Alpha and Omega: (Un)Dead Park - Part 3
by DariaAlpha
Summary: Just like her step-mother Kate, Mica has a nightmare about zombies overrunning Jasper. Only this time, it is not a nightmare. It is real and the small groups of survivors from an eventually massive outbreak of zombies must stay alive long enough to find a place to stay alive—and find each other. Will they? This will be rated M for strong bloody violence/gore, sex, and language.
1. Prologue: Another Nightmare

**Prologue:  
Another Nightmare**

"No, no, no, no," the she-wolf whispered in a frightened voice, kicking and whimpering. Then she let out an awful scream that woke up her mate, who had been sleeping peacefully. "NO!"

The male wolf, called Stinky, ran over to his screaming and flailing male, a beautiful she-wolf called Mica. He couldn't believe she had waked up like this. Mica was normally such a calm wolf who never had nightmares, not that her mate knew she'd had one yet.

"What's wrong?" Stinky asked Mica, as she buried her gray snout in the fur on his chest.

"Oh, it was horrible!" Mica cried. "I had a n-nightmare…it was like something out of a horror tale!"

"What happened?" Stinky ran his wet nose through the fur on Mica's neck, called hackles, which were standing straight up.

"It was about z-zombies," Mica whimpered. "They attacked suddenly, killing the majority of our pack…I woke up after your parents died…" She looked down at her left hind leg and began feeling it as if she doubted its existence. "Oh, gosh, it's still there."

Stinky cocked his head. He was confused. "Yes, it's always been there," he said hesitantly.

"You don't understand!" Mica wailed. "In my nightmare, my leg was cut off after a zombie bit me when we mated!"

"W-What?" Stinky stammered.

"You hear me," she cried. "I was bit…and your mother had to break my leg, then cut it off for me to survive…and by the end of this horrible nightmare…it was just you, Claudette, Runt, Princess, Magril, Danny, Sam, and myself who were still alive. We ended up in Banff where the park was under new control…they weren't brutal wolves at all, of the few who were alive…"

"It was just a nightmare," Stinky assured her. "Zombies aren't real, dear. There's nothing to worry about. That'll never happen, I promise."

"How can you be so sure?" Mica cried. "It seemed so real…and why did your mother have a similar nightmare the day before I did? Doesn't it strike you as odd that we both have two different nightmares about zombies destroying Jasper?"

"I don't know," Stinky said nervously. "It could have something to do with all the horror tales told around the fire a few days ago. You remember, the Halloween fire the pups started, and we all told scary stories the entire night?"

"It's not just Kate and I having nightmares about zombies…" Mica whimpered. "…your father had a nightmare about demonic wolves and Claws had a nightmare about vampire wolves…" Kate was Stinky's mother and his father's name was Humphrey, they were the pack leaders of the United Eastern and Western Packs of Jasper National Park, Canada. Stinky was the oldest son and Mica was his mate. Except for Humphrey, they were all Alphas, the highest-ranking members of a wolf pack. Humphrey was an Omega, the lowest rank, but also an Alpha because he was the Alpha male of the pack.

"And Lilly had a nightmare about the end of the world," Stinky cut her off darkly. "I know, it seems like quite a few wolves are having strange nightmares lately…"

Lilly was the little sister, an Omega due to her fur color being different than that of her parents Winston and Eve, both Alphas and the former pack leaders, of Kate. Her mate, Garth, was an Eastern Pack Alpha, and the only surviving relative of Tony, the former Eastern Alpha male.

Mica, however, was not an Eastern or Western Wolf. She came from the Southern Pack, after fleeing her abusive parents Griffin and Banja. She wouldn't have married her true love, Stinky, if they'd had their way all those years ago. She loved her mother deeply, knowing that Banja hadn't said anything due to being afraid of her mate, but Mica absolutely hated her father. Many of the Eastern and Western wolves hated Griffin. He wasn't even allowed at The Howling Rock, per orders of Kate and Humphrey. And since Griffin couldn't go to The Howling Rock, he didn't allow poor Banja to go there either. He forced her to stay in their den in the Southern Territory all day long just so she wouldn't run away like Mica and their other seventeen children had years earlier.

"Try to get some sleep, Mica," Stinky told her after a few minutes of silence.

"Why?" Mica spat. "So I can go back to that nightmare again? No thanks."

"You need to sleep," he argued. "Just know this. Zombies aren't real and such a thing will never happen. We both know that, regardless of how real any nightmare seems." He licked her on the cheat, told Mica that he loved her, and then fell back asleep not far away from where she was lying on her belly.

The eerie feel of this evening did very little to comfort Mica. She could see out of their den located on the hillside among many other wolf dens, in which all the other members of her pack were sound asleep, unlike her. Off in the distance was the forest, a sight with gave her the chills. The forest floor was almost lost in darkness. Against a hazy gray sky, black branches writhed like the tendrils of a monstrous, unseen beast, thickening in the distance. If Mica hadn't known any better, she would've sworn she could hear howling in the distance. It wasn't wolves. The howls were getting louder and were terribly close. They were unlike any howl Mica had ever heard. It was almost a deathly moan reminiscent of what she had heard in her encounters, in her nightmare, with the undead.

That deathly moan made Mica's fur, from her tail to her ears, stand up on end. It sent a chill down her spine. A feeling of dread came over the normally strong-willed. It was a feeling she couldn't shake. Not even when she closed her eyes or looked away from the foggy forest. The fog was everywhere, as usual, but Mica was terrified of it on this night. She almost expected something to come out of the fog and drag her away like what had happened to Fleet, the mate of Stinky's older sister Claudette, in Kate's nightmare. Only he had been drug into a bush by an undead wolf, not something Mica couldn't picture being in the fog. It was a chilly night, too, and that made Mica's dreadful feeling even worse than before. And the moaning just kept getting louder and louder until…

"GET AWAY!" Mica screamed when she felt something touch her twitching tail. "JUST GET AWAY! Oh, get away, get away, get away," she whimpered repeatedly.

Stinky was awake again and not scolding Mica one bit. He could hear the same eerie howling off in the forest. Those howls made the forest seem even darker than it really was. Stinky felt the same chill go down his spine, causing his fur to stick up on end as well. Mica was now in his front legs, wrapped around her body tightly, and shaking. She saw that it was just a field mouse that had been sleeping in a nest built in their cave. It had run through the fur of her tail, scaring Mica half to death. But she wasn't much calmer now because of the moan-like howl coming from the forest.

Even the field mouse seemed horrified. She had very little fur on her body, compared to the wolves, but what there was on her back was now standing up on end just like Stinky and Mica's fur was. The field mouse, as well, had the same feeling of dread that the two much larger wolves had.

"I-Is that wolves howling?" the field mouse whispered in a voice flooded with horror.

"No," Stinky whispered back. "It's not."

"What is it?"

"I don't want to think about it…" Stinky's shaking voice trailed off.

"Undead," Mica whispered and all three of the animals felt even more terror not because of the word "undead" but the noise they heard. It was a loud, piercing moan followed by a bloodcurdling scream of terror and agony. It was a she-wolf, clearly, and it sounded like she was being attacked by something.

Stinky sniffed the air. He had the best sense of smell any wolf in the park ever had. Claudette had once said, "Your nose is never wrong." And she was right. Stinky was never wrong when he smelled something. What he smelled was a confusing mixture of scents. There was the scent of blood—wolf blood. But that wasn't all. Stinky swore he could smell rotting flesh—also of a wolf. Mica and the female field mouse could smell it, too. But neither of them could smell it as good as Stinky could. He knew whose blood it was and he was sure about who the smell of rot belonged to.

The blood…it belonged to a male wolf. And he knew just what male wolf it was. His grandfather Winston! And the rotting flesh…he swore it belonged to a rogue. The ones from Banff National Park who had taken his little brother Runt away from his family when they had been nothing more than little pups. And he knew what wolf it was. Scava. Runt and his mate Princess, formerly an Alpha of Banff but now a Beta of the Western Pack in Jasper, had told them all about Scava and how he'd tried to kill Runt. But Princess had driven him off a cliff and given him a nasty back and head ache for an entire week or two afterward as a result.

Stinky and Mica took off running toward the den of their grandparents, Winston and Eve, as the screaming continued. It all made sense now. The screams belonged to Eve. And it wasn't screams of pain but pure terror. It was Winston who had been screaming in pain. But why didn't they hear Scava screaming if it were he who smelled of rot.

_Of death_, Mica thought darkly as they ran across the clearing, with a few other wolves on either side of them, including Kate, Humphrey, Lilly, and Garth. Mica also saw Princess and Runt and an Eastern Beta couple called Claws and Scar running toward the den of Winston and Eve, both somewhat elderly wolves. _Of undeath_…Mica thought as the group of wolves ran up the hillside and into the den.

They were greeted with a gruesome sight they would never get out of their minds for as long as they lived. Eve was still screaming, but now more than just one wolf was screaming. Two, if not more, were.

Kate was one of them because she had been greeted by the site of her father…

* * *

**Author's note:** Instead of those other two stories I was writing—the unofficial novelization of _Alpha and Omega 2_ and my zombie story _Desert of the Dead_—I'm going to write a part 3 to my Undead Park series. A friend told me about his Alpha and Omega-related zombie night on FurAffinity and that gave me inspiration to want to write _Undead Park - Part 3_. For those who have read the original _Undead Park_, you will know what to expect in terms of mood, amount of violence and gore, and how serious this will be. I'm gonna try to go further than how dark the original was, though.

This will be the darkest zombie story I've done yet when I'm done. Not only was my friend's A&O-related nightmare very dark, I spent some time looking for how to give a story an eerie atmosphere. I'm gonna do that quite often in this story.

As for those two stories mentioned above...them getting finished or not will depend on whether I have the motivation to finish them. If not, oh well. It doesn't bother me that much. They wouldn't be the first stories I say "Screw it" to. And I doubt they'll be the last, either.


	2. A Spider and a Zombie?

**Chapter 1**

**A Spider and a Zombie?**

Reba and Janice were two Omega wolves of the Western Pack and the only members of the pack who were vegetarians other than their adopted daughter Gemma, from Banff, and Janice's mate Shakey. They were both Omegas, as well. Shakey was one of the oldest friends of Humphrey. All four of them were the target of physical and verbal abuse from the Alphas and Betas, mostly the Eastern Ones, due to their dietary preferences.

The worst thing to ever happen them involved an Eastern Beta called Claws helping her pack members feed them caribou meat, an act that had made the two girls puke their guts up, as the figure of speech went. But Claws and her Beta mate Scar left them entirely alone unless it was to support them. The worst thing they'd ever been called was "veggie whores," referring to the entirely false rumor that they traded their food of choice for sex. Anyone with a brain knew how false that was rumor was. They had never traded veggies for sex in their lives and nor did they ever intend to do that. Not only were they those kinds of wolves, they wouldn't force any of their carnivorous friends to eat like vegetarians.

It was the same night Stinky and Mica had been talking about the nightmare she'd had when they'd all run to Eve and Winston's den due to the screams coming from it. They were unaware that, possibly, Winston had been killed by a rogue wolf called Scava. That was what those wolves assumed had happened. They didn't know what the dark truth behind Winston's death was. But whenever they found it out, they would be horrified more than they ever had.

The four vegetarian Omega wolves had been sleeping peacefully in their den until, first, they'd heard the same intense moaning Mica had heard coming from the forest all around the Western Territory. But now, they were even more horrified by the screams coming from Eve and Winston's den. Reba and Janice knew it was Kate and Eve screaming. They were particularly familiar with Eve's voice as she was the wolf who had trained Reba and Janice, as well as the two Omega wolves Candy and Sweets, to be future pack healers. For now, the two groups of best friends were Eve's assistants. But, when Eve deemed herself too old to be the pack healer, or when she died, Candy, the oldest of the four, would replace Eve as the head pack healer, and Gemma would take her place after being trained by Janice. Eve had chosen Reba and Janice as two of her assistants because they had an extensive knowledge of all things organic, including herbal medicine. Those two had greatly increased the amount of hope Eve could give sick or wounded wolves.

Reba and Janice fucking hated spiders. They hated those little eight-legged freaks as much as they loved the foods they ate as vegetarians. Sure, they were all for "going organic"—that was basically their slogan—and saving the lives of any animals, but they absolutely hated spiders, bees, hornets, and other insects that were venomous. They hated all animals that were venomous, but were more tolerant of any other animal. They were even good friends with a few grizzly bears.

"What is going on?" Gemma asked in a shaking voice. The hackles of all four of these vegetarian wolves—Reba, Janice, Shakey, and Gemma—were stuck straight up and they all had chills down their spines just like Stinky and Mica had before going to the den of their grandparents.

"I don't know," Janice said, a bit horrified. Shakey was by her side and Gemma was at Reba's side.

"I've never heard Eve scream like that," Reba said.

"Neither have I," Shakey said. And he was living up to the name "Shakey" he was shaking with fear in this moment. That was why his late parents had named him Shakey. His mother used to say that he had come out of her womb shaking and she'd named him "Shakey" before naming his siblings—none of whom he had seen since his parents died in an rockslide, for some odd reason.

Janice, the oldest of the four, looked to her mate. "Should we go see what's wrong?"

"I don't think we should," Reba said nervously. "I saw Kate, Humphrey, Stinky, Mica, Claws, and Scar heading that way a few minutes ago."

"B-But," Gemma stammered, "what if Eve is hurt?" She had great respect for Eve, regardless of her axe-crazy threats, and even considered her a grandmother even if they weren't related at all. Eve had done as much for Gemma as Reba, Janice, and Shakey had.

Gemma was a runt just like Runt, an Omega, and his and Princess's youngest son Sam, the only Omega pup. She had been orphaned at a young age, in the Northern Territory, and no one had wanted to adopt a runt other than Reba and Janice. There might've been others who would've, but the girls were the first two wolves to want her. Gemma had been only a puppy when she had been adopted. Therefore, she considered the couple of Janice and Shakey to be the closest thing to biological parents she'd ever known. And she considered Reba to be the closest thing to a biological aunt she'd ever had. And she had Sam, her mate, as well. "A family of Omegas," Gemma had once said. They were all Omegas—Gemma, Sam, Reba, Janice, and Shakey.

"WINSTON!"

Janice's eyes grew larger. "That was Eve…"

And then there was a scream from Kate, "DAD, NO!"

"W-What on Earth is going on?" Shakey asked.

Reba had intended to say something when she opened her mouth, but she froze like a statue when she felt something crawling up her back. She slowly turned her head around, almost dreading what she would see. It was a spider. Reba's bloody ran colder than ice water and she couldn't even gasp, her fear was so bad. And knowing the species of the spider made Reba's bloody run even colder than it already had. It was a brown recluse spider, _Loxosceles reclusa_, one of the deadliest spiders if the bite is left untreated. This specific spider was brown and Reba could see the distinctive marking on its abdomen—a black-colored violin shape.

"J-J-Janice," Reba whimpered.

"What is it?"

"B-Brown R-Recluse S-Spider," she whimpered again. "C-Crawling up my b-back…"

"Don't move," Janice said in a shockingly serious voice. She never spoke that seriously. "I'll be quick about it…" Janice moved carefully toward her oldest friend with a large leaf in her right paw, intending to brush the spider off and send it flying across their den.

"Get…it…off…me…" Reba whispered slowly, gasping. She could feel her heart beating rapidly and her pulse racing. Her paws and flesh felt clammy and she was sweating. It wasn't a sweating that resulted from being hot but a sweating that resulted from fear and stress. There was nothing that scared Reba more than spiders, especially deadly ones like brown recluse and black widows.

Janice went to brush the leaf across Reba's back but all hell broke loose in that moment. Reba felt a tight pinch on her back and she knew what happened. The spider bit her! Reba went crazy in that moment, screaming and cursing like she'd been shot. But being shot would be a better option than being bitten by a brown recluse spider. The venom of the brown recluse spider bared potentially deadly hemotoxic venom. While the bites were usually minor, they could cause necrosis, a form of cell injury resulting in the premature death of cells in living tissue. Albeit in very rare cases, bites could even cause hemolysis—the bursting of red blood cells. Even rarer was bites resulting in hemolysis, thrombocytopenia, disseminated intravascular coagulation, organ damage, and death. Most fatalities are in wolf pups or those with weak immune systems.

Besides this, Reba and the other wolves, except for Shakey, knew one thing that horrified them even more than anything else. The bite could a necrotizing ulcer that destroys soft tissue and take months to heal, leaving deep scars. These bites usually become painful and itchy within two to eight hours. Pain and other local effects worsen twelve to thirty-six hours after the bite, and necrosis develops over the next few days. Over time, the wound may grow to as large as twenty cm (ten inches). The damaged tissue becomes gangrenous and eventually sloughs away. It was an almost hellish way to die, Reba thought, as she ran all around the cave screaming and cursing the spider that was now dead under Janice's front left paw.

"Reba, calm down!" Janice screamed. Reba stopped running around the den immediately. "Now, get over here," her best friend continued, "and let me see the bite."

Reba sat down in front of Janice, with her back toward her. Janice looked for the bite and found it. It was on the park of Reba's back where she had a patch of fur missing due to a violent encounter with the Eastern Wolves a few years ago. They'd torn some of Reba and Janice's fur off just because they'd lightly torture them and it had never grown back. There was a small red spot where the spider's fangs had gone into her flesh and a lighter red, almost pinkish, rash all around the bite. Janice knew it was infected.

"How bad it is?" Reba asked. She was crying and still felt clammy. Her heart was still racing and she was still sweating.

"It's not that bad now," Janice said, "but it will get much worse before it gets better."

Reba knew how her flesh would die and even rot away because of this bite. It was aggressive venom that almost worked like something acidic. It worked slowly, but there was no way to stop the progression of the seriousness of the bite among wolves. If they got her to the park rangers…maybe. But not many of the wolves knew where the park rangers' station was and just as few wolves knew who did know the location.

"I-Is there anything you can do for it?" Reba asked a minute later.

"I wish I could," Janice said. "Not even Eve would know what to do…if she's even alright…"

* * *

And Eve was alright but her mate Winston wasn't. He was dead, his throat torn out by his attacker. Princess knew it was Scava and so did Runt. Scava was the wolf who had attacked Runt as a puppy, when he had been taken away from his parents, to Banff, only to be driven off a cliff by Princess.

The horrifying thing about Scava was that he was horribly mutilated and rotting. There were multiple chunks of flesh taken out of his body, ranging from miniscule to massive.

"It had to have been wolves that did this to Scava," Princess was saying as Kate and Eve mourned Winston. His eyes were closed and his torn out throat still in Scava's dead jaws. They'd killed him by slamming him into the wall of the den, caving his skull into and spilling out his brains. "But how could he have stayed alive long enough to travel to Jasper, from Banff?" Princess continued. "I've never seen something like this before…"

"I-I have," Mica said, "and so has Kate."

"Where?" Runt asked. He was in tears over his grandmother's death. Rather, what they called murder.

"In our nightmares about…"

"Don't give me that!" Claws snapped. She was the kind of wolf who didn't believe in what she and her mate Scar called "the supernatural." Her nightmare about an encounter with vampires didn't change her viewpoint about that. "There is no such thing as zombies!"

"How do you know?!" Mica wailed. The wail wasn't because Claws doubted her, the wail that is, but over Winston being dead.

"Have you ever seen a zombie?" Claws argued.

"What do you call him?" Stinky interjected. "A wolf who got lucky in a fight after being torn to shreds and managed to wander this far without dying? That isn't possible, Claws. You know that."

"I also know that zombies aren't real!" Claws snapped. "Scava just got on the wrong side of an angry wolf and was ripped up pretty bad for doing it. But, somehow, he managed to wander this far without dying, eating, or drinking water, and kill Winston before I crushed his skull against the fucking wall of the cave!"

"That is enough!" Kate suddenly said in a snappy yet grieving voice. "We don't even know what happened to Scava—all we do know is that he killed my father and somehow survived a 181-mile journey in this condition. I agree with Stinky. I cannot foresee how he could've survived 181 miles in this condition…unless…"

"Oh, not you to Kate!" Claws groaned. "I thought you were a sensible wolf!" Before Kate could say anything in response, Claws lost it. "You know what? I'm out of here! I've got better things to do than talk about zombies when I'm horny!" She didn't want to stick around only because they were talking about something supernatural—she never wanted to hear about such things—ever!

And then she ran out of the cave then went in the direction of her den, where Scar was waiting for his heated mate to return.

"I can't believe her," Eve growled angrily and sadly. "My mate is dead and she doesn't even care!"

"Claws cares," Kate said. "She just didn't want to hear anything about zombies…and I can't blame her after the nightmares Mica and I had…"


	3. A Mission Gets Bloody

**Chapter 2:**

**A Mission Gets Bloody**

Kate agreed with Claws regardless of her nightmare. She knew that zombies couldn't possibly be real. It just didn't make any sense at all. So, because Scava, a rogue from Banff, had been mutilated by something, she had ordered the strongest of the Alphas and Betas to go find whatever had done it.

Ten of the strongest in the United Pack had been sent to find whatever had mutilated Scava so badly. They had agreed to start their search at the bottom of The Howling Rock, go up it, and then search all over the Eastern and Western Territories. The Eastern Territory would be the best place to look if it was the rogues, due to no Jasper wolves living there anymore, but they doubted that it was the rogues. They never would've killed one of their own. Especially not one like Scava, who was more loyal to King and Queen than anyone ever had been. Princess and Melissa would be the only rogues to ever be known to be killed by their own if it ever did happen, even if those two didn't consider themselves rogues anymore. They considered themselves Jasper wolves.

The notable members of this group of Alphas and Betas were Melissa (an Alpha), her Beta mate Hutch, his best friend Candu (also a Beta), in addition to Fleet and Magril (both former Northern Alphas), and Liam, a Western Alpha and Magril's mate. The other three were Betas from the Eastern Pack. One of those three was a rather young she-wolf who called Robyn, who was Claws sister and the mother of Scarlet. Scarlet was an Alpha she-wolf and the oldest friend of Mica, a former Alpha of the Southern Pack and Stinky's mate.

"How does Kate even know if there are rogues in Jasper?" Melissa snarled. "They haven't been seen since we defeated them over a year ago and King and Queen were killed. They'd have no reason to come back here and would be fucking stupid if they did. They're half the threat they used to be without King and Queen to lead them. And we're more of a threat now that Princess and I are a part of your pack."

"Just trust her," Hutch said. "What else can we suspect other than the rogues? Like Kate and Claws said…there is no such thing as zombies. It's just not possible."

"I smell blood," Candu said suddenly.

"What?" Hutch gasped. He and Melissa sniffed but didn't smell it.

"I don't smell anything," Melissa said.

"I smell it, too," Fleet said.

"Me, as well," Magril agreed.

"Well, where's it coming from, then?" Melissa said, slightly annoyed.

Robyn sniffed the air. Like her older sister Claws, she had a powerful sense of smell. "I smell it," she said. "It's just up the hillside…at…"

"…The Howling Rock," Liam finished her sentence. "And you know what else I smell?" Liam's hackles were on end because of the new smell hitting his nose. It wasn't blood.

"What?" Robyn was almost afraid to ask.

"Rogues and rotting flesh," Liam said darkly. The word "rogues" caused every wolf's hackles to stick straight up. That word, especially when referring to the rogue wolves from Banff, had been all but a profanity ever since the brutal battle with them over a year ago. While none of the Jasper wolves had gotten killed, it had been a bloody battle that had cost many rogues their lives, and even led to many wolves being wounded, including Kate, Claws, Scar, Sweets, and Nars, the abusive and disowned Alpha father of Fleet and Magril.

"B-But why would rogues be in Jasper?" Magril stammered. The thought of rogues being in Jasper in again made Magril's blood run cold. She was a sensitive wolf. Both she and Fleet absolutely hated those fucking rogues for almost killing not only their mother-in-law Kate and their father Nars but also a few close friends of theirs—Claws, Scar, Sweets, and another Northern Pack Alpha called Ed. Ed was one of Fleet and Magril's oldest friends. They'd known him since their puppy days and would've been devastated if he'd died. They would've been devastated if any of the Jasper wolves had died in that bloody battle.

"What, what are we waiting for?" Melissa let out a vicious snarl. "Let's tear some rogues apart. I'm thirsty for their blood…" She didn't even finish her sentence before running up the hillside, following the brown and dried trail of blood. She vanished from the sight of the others before any of them could tell her to wait or could catch up with her.

And none of them heard a very faint yelp of pain coming from around the side of the mountain before they even had a chance to follow Melissa. They had no idea that something happened to her or that she was even in trouble…or worse. Not even Hutch, who had the best hearing of all the wolves here, heard his mate's agonizing yelp. It sounded like she'd been attacked then wounded by something.

The group was unaware of a just as faint munching and tearing sound. It was the sound of bones crunching in the jaws of a wolf and flesh being torn apart by knife-like teeth. The one thing the wolves were aware of was the smell of death and the rogues, two scents that went hand-in-hand. The rogues always smelled like death, with the dried blood on their fur coats, and the fact that they never bathed, and always getting covered in the gore and mutilated remains of their victims in what they called The Blood Sports. The Blood Sports referred to the rogues' darker and brutal version of The Great Wolf Games, revolving entirely around fighting and murder rather than the friendly competition and racing expected in The Great Wolf Games of Jasper.

"I smell rogues," Candu growled. "The scent is stronger than ever…"

"I smell it, too," Magril whimpered. Everyone else said that they smelled it. But when they neared the bend where Melissa had gone around, not that they knew where she had gone, they heard the sound of bones crunching and flesh tearing in the jaws of wolves. It was a loud and sickening sound that made the other wolves' stomachs churn. It made them want to puke up their recent meals and run away just to get away from that sickening sound and scent.

And in that moment, Magril did just that. She buried her head in a bush then started puking her guts out so badly that she didn't even notice a horribly mutilated body only a foot away from her pile of vomit. That changed when Magril looked up, vomit dripping from her lips. Her sick expression changed to one of pure terror when she saw the body. It was half eaten down to the bone, with guts hanging out, and, most horrifying, still alive and crawling toward her despite its broken back. It was moaning and Magril swore it could see her despite having no eyeballs. They were gouged out, clearly, and lying over in a pool of blood with tendrils of bloody nerves on the end.

Magril let out a piercing, horrified scream as it crawled toward it. She was so horrified that not only did her blood run cold, her hackles stick straight up, but her body froze with fear. The last thing Magril remembered seeing were the jaws of a wolf coming at her before her life ended brutally. The jaws crushed her skull like an egg, spilling blood and brains all over the inside of the wolf's jaws. Some of it went down the wolf's gullet while a small amount of it got on the ground and flowed out of the bush.

Fleet and the others screamed when they saw Magril's body go limp after hearing the crunch of her skull and seeing the gore flowing out of the bush like water…thick, soupy water…

"Magril!" Fleet and Liam screamed in anguish.

"What the f-" Robyn began, but her words cut off when she felt something bite her foot off. She didn't see her attack because it was in the bushes. "Holy shit…get it off me!" But it was too late to help her. Whatever was attacking her drug her into the bush and she was quickly torn apart. The others couldn't see the attacker, but they could see Robyn being torn open by something and her guts being torn out as blood went everywhere.

"RUN!" Hutch roared, but by the time he had given that order, Liam and Candu were both torn apart and scattered all over the box canyon like a macabre decoration of blood and guts. Just like Magril, who was now nothing more than a pile of blood, intestines, a half-eaten heart, and a broken-up skeleton. In fact, the only wolves who hadn't been reduced to piles of gore by the seemingly undead rogue wolves were Fleet and Hutch.

And they were now running for their lives, even if Hutch had no idea what consequences the bite on his shoulder would have for him in about a day. Fleet, the only other survivor, had no idea, either, that the bite on Hutch's shoulder would result in him turning into one of those zombies in about a day. If either of them made it out of her in one piece, that is!

Hutch would, arguably, be the more fortunate of the two when he tripped over a rock, breaking his foot in the process.

"Hutch!" Fleet yelped and ran back to help Hutch as several zombie rogues shambled toward the screaming wolf.

"Don't let them get me!" Hutch begged.

"I won't, I won't!" Fleet cried frantically as he pulled on Hutch with his front paws, as best any wolf could of course. But Fleet's efforts proved to be in vain and Hutch was torn to pieces before his eyes. Blood got all over Fleet's golden-brown fur and internal organs spilled all over the ground as Hutch was torn limb-from-limb.

But that was not all that happened. Before Fleet could retract and run away, he suffered a bite on his front leg, and his paw was almost torn off. It was just dangling there by a tiny patch of flesh and fur then it fell off easily and was eaten by one of the zombies before Fleet could react.

"NO!" Fleet screamed then turned and ran away from the slaughter using only three legs. His fourth was useless. But he made a foolish and fatal mistake by running into the box canyon, not even realizing what kind of canyon it was, only to end up in a small crevice in the wall. Fleet was hoping the zombies wouldn't notice him as the group shambled down the box canyon, seemingly following his scent.

Fleet's heart sank to his stomach when he saw the rotting horde and heard their moans. He closed his eyes when they were only a foot or two away and had one final thought: _I love you, Claudette…and I hope you don't find me like this…_

Then he was quickly torn to pieces by at least seven different zombie wolves, his last thoughts being about his mate who could be expecting their first litter of puppies. His first litter of puppies that would now never know their father.


	4. An Ailing She-Wolf Raises Tension

**Chapter 3**

**An Ailing She-Wolf Raises Tension**

"Ahh!" the she-wolf screamed in agony as her best friend and a few other she-wolves examined her spider bite. It was Reba, had been bitten by a Brown Recluse Spider three days earlier. Now, the fur on her back, around the area where the spider bit her, was entirely gone, and there was a deep, red-orange gash in her back where the venom had destroyed the flesh. There were black-and-blue patches of dead flesh on either side of the gash in her back where the venom had killed and rotted Reba's flesh.

"We're just trying to help you!" Eve growled as she held Reba down. Reba was kicking and screaming in pain as Eve, Janice, Candy, and Sweets tried to rub her wounds with plants that were similar to what humans called antibiotics.

Eve knew a lot about Brown Recluse Spiders and their bites, even how to stop the infection from spreading any more, but she couldn't do anything to help Reba if she didn't stop fighting them!

"Reba, just stop fighting!" Janice cried.

"But the pain-"

"You'll be in more pain if you keep fighting us!" Eve snapped. "I'm this far away from just tying you up with vines then treating you! I care for you, Reba, BUT I CAN'T HELP YOU IF YOU'RE FIGHT US!" she roared.

In this moment, Reba froze even more than she had when the Brown Recluse had been crawling up her back. Eve was the only thing she'd ever known that could scare her more than any spider could. Some wolves said that they would rather face an angry grizzly bear than Eve.

"AHHH!" Reba screamed as Eve and Janice made more attempts to cover her massive wound with the medicine fluids from the leaves. "Just stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!"

"What?" Eve gasped. She was more shocked then angered by that.

"Just stop!" Reba screamed again. "You can't do anything for me!"

"W-What?" Janice gasped in a whimpering voice.

"If you really wanted to me," Reba said in an angry, almost snappy, voice, "you should've taken care of this fucking bite the day I was bitten!"

"Now calm down, Reba…" Eve began, but she'd never have the chance to complete her sentence.

"NO!" Reba roared. "If you're so smart, Eve, when it comes to spider bites, then why did you wait three days before you decided to treat me?! Even after I told you I was bitten by a Brown Recluse!"

"I-"

"No, you listen to me, you failure of a 'pack healer'! I may die because you lied about knowing all about spiders! Who in their right fucking mind chose _you_ to be the fucking pack healer?!"

"Reba…this isn't like you at all," Janice said, her voice shaking. "Just stop…Eve doesn't deserve to be spoken to like that."

"The bitch deserves every fucking thing I've said to her!" Reba snapped.

"'The bitch'!" Eve gasped, offended. She'd never been called such a name before. But Eve was done being nice. Reba would learn why no one talked to her like that. "What has gotten into you?!" she exploded suddenly. "I ought to take that stone lying over there in the corner of my den and beat your fucking skull in with it, you stupid excuse of a wolf! If I didn't have the self control I did, I would make you wish you were bitten by a hundred of those Brown Recluse BY THE TIME I FINISH YOU OFF!"

Reba's mood changed immediately. She was no longer angry and ranting but in fear of Eve. She was on her belly, looking up at the massive female Alpha with pure terror in her eyes. Not even when she'd seen that spider crawling up her back three days ago had she been this scared. Just in the way that Eve was staring down at the shaking and cowering Omega made Reba regret saying everything she just had. So badly that she wished she'd never even thought about losing her head. That could happen quite literally now for what she said to Eve.

Reba opened her mouth and began with, "Eve, I'm sor…"

"It's too late for apologies!" Eve snapped. "You can't take back what you said now…" She was speaking in a growling voice. "I think you would be smart to take your veggie obsessed ass and get out of my site before I do more damage to your back than that spider bite ever could." Reba didn't move because she was still trying to apologize. "Get out of my den and never come back!" Eve roared suddenly.

"Eve," Janice said in a calm, but obviously frightened, voice, "just let her be…"

"You can get out of my den, too! You're her best friend and maybe you can come back after you talk some sense into Reba."

"B-But…I didn't…"

"I don't care, Janice," Eve growled. "She'll listen to you, so you're going to go with Reba, and I don't want to see either of you again until she's herself again."

"But what if she dies?"

"So be it," Eve growled again. "Maybe she'll learn that she wouldn't have acted the way she did."

Candy and Sweets were just sitting a few feet away and not say anything about what was going on. They knew it would be foolish to get involved in any argument that involved Eve. Eve never lost arguments—arguing with her was a worse idea than going to war with the rogues in Banff. Even that, of all things, would have a better result than even thinking about arguing with and screaming at Eve, let alone actually doing it. Reba had just, unfortunately, found out the hard way why one didn't start anything with Eve—it wouldn't be finished by anyone unless Eve was that someone.

And Candy and Sweets said absolutely nothing when Reba and Janice left the den, both too afraid to say anything else to Eve after what had happened between her and them.

Eve turned to Candy and Sweets. "I'm sorry this had to happen," she said, "but there's no place for them in this den, of all places, if they're going to be acting like this."

"Do you think they'll ever want to help you take care of wounded again?" Candy asked in a shaking voice, still shocked by what just happened.

"I don't know," Eve said with a sigh. "I regret having to scream at poor Reba, with what she's going through, but sometimes being harsh is all that can be done to correct someone."


	5. The First Night Watch

**Chapter 4**

**The First Night Watch**

"It isn't like them just to disappear without a trace," Kate said to the group of Alphas—Humphrey and Princess, as well—as Mica consoled Claudette, who was scared to death about what could've happened to Fleet. The wolves of Jasper feared that the rogues from Banff were in Jasper Park, so it was not a good sign that ten wolves had vanished.

"Especially not wolves like Fleet, Magril, Hutch, Candu, and Robyn," Humphrey said. "If anyone bad happens, they're the five you would expect to get away."

"Fleet and Magril more than any of them," Princess said. "With the exception of your daughter, there is no one in all of Jasper that can run faster than those two can."

"We should go look for them," Runt, an Omega and Princess's mate, said. "They could be hurt or in anger."

"Don't go rushing into things, son," Humphrey, also an Omega, said. "If there really are rogues out there, we can't rush into this like they did. You and Princess know that, more than anyone, one Banff rogue can be more dangerous than ten of our wolves."

"Umph," Claws scoffed in an offended tone. "Speak for yourself, Humphrey. I killed more rogues than anyone else when they had been attacking Jasper. Princess and I, we both did."

"Don't be so cocky, Claws," Kate cautioned. "You may be one of the strongest wolves in our pack, but you don't know how brutal the rogues can be. Just ask Runt."

"Queen tore out my left eye and ate it without hesitation," Runt said darkly, pushing the leaf over his eye that acted as an eye patch with his paw. It was tied together with small vines that wouldn't snap when wrapped around his head. Reba and Janice had made it for him after the war with King's pack had come to an end.

"And don't forget what King did to me," Kate said just as darkly. "I almost died because of him. My throat was almost torn out, but King had decided to 'spare' me, in his words, thinking I would have died anyway. But he was wrong and that proved to be fatal on his part. I'm one of the wolves who took part in tearing him to pieces!"

"And that bitch Queen, too," Lilly muttered, still remembering how she'd helped not only kill King but his mate as well. It had been her, Kate, Princess, Melissa, and Runt who killed both of them. That day came back to her now, in thought.

"You almost killed Kate, MY SISTER!" Lilly had roared. "DAMN YOU, KING!" And then they'd torn him to pieces, leaving very little left. It was not Queen's death but King's death that had caused the rogues to give up and retreat back to Banff. The bodies of King and Queen, and all the other dead rogues had been tossed into a cave in the abandoned Eastern Territory to rot.

"Enough, enough," Princess growled. She hated to hear about her parents. They were dead, gone, and she wanted _nothing_ to do with them. She didn't even want to think about whether they had gone to Heaven or were burning in Hell. But it was obviously where any of those rogues had gone when they were killed. Especially Scava. That fucker had tried not once but twice to kill Runt when he had been a pup and enslaved in Banff. The first time, Princess had driven him off a cliff, resulting in a sore back for a while.

But the second time, Princess had had enough, and she'd killed Scava on the spot. It had been when she'd been running away from her father's territory with Runt in her jaws and Scava had found them. Scava had challenged Princess to a fight, but when she'd been about to kill him, he'd went after that, and that had proven to be a fatal mistake. She had seemingly broken his neck for it and had kicked his worthless body into the river.

"What are we going to do about the missing wolves?" Humphrey changed the subject. "We can't just wait and hope they come back, given how we found Scava in our den…"

"But I killed Scava when Runt was just a pup!" Princess protested. "How could he have killed Winston?"

"Maybe he didn't die then," Runt growled.

"And if he didn't die then, that means he could've led before of the rogues here," Scar said, "only to be either betrayed by his own pack members or losing a fight with a grizzly bear."

"What are we going to do in the mean time before we send a search party out to find the missing wolves?" Mica asked. Stinky was by her side, as was her oldest friend Scarlet. Scarlet was clearly concerned about her missing mother, who was Claws's sister.

Kate, being the Alpha female and the dominant wolf of the pack since it was mating season, took over. Wolf mating season was the time of year when the Alpha female took over complete authority, even telling the Alpha male what to do rather than him telling her what to do.

"We'll set up a night watch," Kate said.

"Who all will make this watch up?" Stinky asked.

"The Alphas and Betas. Claws, I want you to set this one out," Kate said nervously, looking at the orange Beta wolf.

"W-What? Why?" Claws stammered.

"I just have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach," Kate said, not offering much of an explanation for Claws.

And Claws hated getting bad explanations. "'A bad feeling in the pit of your stomach' doesn't tell me shit," she growled. Claws was normally a vulgar wolf who wasn't afraid to curse as long as there weren't any puppies around. "Do you care to explain more _clearly_?" Claws said the word "clearly" with extra emphasis.

"The bad feeling I have is that you will die if you take part in this night watch," Kate said bluntly. "Is that clear enough for you?" she asked almost bitterly.

Claws was aghast. She couldn't believe it, as real as she knew it could be. "Y-Yes it is," she stammered, now almost horrified rather than angry. "I-I'll leave now," she added and turned to leave.

"No, wait, Claws," Kate said, running over to stop her. "I want to stay so you can hear all of what we talk about. I didn't mean to frighten you that badly…" And then she went back to talk about how the planned now watch would work, detailing her plan in a way that made all of the present wolves picture it in their minds. It was so much different from what Kate had ordered when the rogues had been threatening Jasper in the past.

But why? That was what the group was left wondering since the same wolves were attacking now. How was this instance of the rogues (possibly) attacking Jasper any different from the first time it had happened?

But then it hit them. Kate actually believed that she and Mica's nightmares about the zombies were coming true!

* * *

"I can't believe Kate might believe that zombies are real!" Garth, an Alpha, said to one of the Betas who were on watch.

"It's unimaginable that such a thing could even exist," that Beta wolf. "I don't believe zombies, wolf or not, are real, but if I ever saw them, I wouldn't be able to tell you how shocked I would be. And horrified!"

"I would be horrified, too, if such a thing were real," a female Beta wolf said. "I'm just glad it's not…"

"But Kate seems to think it is," Garth said, "and so does Mica."

"Why on Earth would they think zombies are real?"

"I don't know," Garth said. "I just don't know…"


	6. Many Wolves Skip The Moonlight Howl

**Chapter 5**

**Many Wolves Skip the Moonlight Howl**

"I am not going to The Moonlight Howl!" Claws yelled at Scar.

"What?" Scar gasped. "W-Why not?"

"I'm not even leaving our den until we know why a rogue wolf from Banff killed Winston and why ten of our pack members are missing!" she explained.

"This has something to do with how barely any of our pack members are going to The Moonlight Howl, doesn't it?"

"Yes! I don't care if almost everyone normally goes, I'm not going this time."

The Moonlight Howl was a special monthly event where all of the wolves in Jasper Park went to a mountain they called The Howling Rock to howl with their mates or to find mates if they were single. It was where Claws had met Scar and Lilly had met Garth. And because of all the box canyons, it was sometimes the place where she-wolves conceived their puppies. It was where both Kate and Lilly had gotten pregnant and later Claudette with Fleet's puppies.

"You are so paranoid," Scar said, trying not to shout. He knew if he shouted that Claws could go off on him and that was the last thing anyone wanted.

"I know I am," Claws bitterly agreed with him. "And that's not all I because of this time of year!" Scar barely understood what she meant even though she had been relentlessly pawing herself between the legs with her claws retracted.

Scar gave her a confused look and she groaned with frustration. And that wasn't the sexual frustration that made her groan. How could Scar have forgotten what time of year it was? "It's mating season," Claws said, trying to remain calm. "You haven't been able to tell that I'm in heat? You, the one wolf who could take care of that and then some?" She was faking a sad voice and looking at him with just as fake puppy eyes. There was a reason Claws had told Kate and a few others she was "horny" days earlier. But she and Scar had not mated yet. Mating with a male wolf and getting ejaculated in was the only way a she-wolf could relieve her heat. Not even touching herself, as Claws was doing now, could relieve heat. Most wolves knew that, by definition, heat was intensity of feeling, especially of anger or excitement. In this case, Claws was experiencing an intense sexual excitement that only mating could do away with.

Estrus, or heat, was the stage in a female dog's reproductive cycle during which she became receptive to mating with males. At this time, estrogen levels first increase and then sharply decrease, and mature eggs release from the ovaries.

It normally happened to female dogs at least twice a year—every six months—with one being worse than the other. The first of the two could be taken care of by the female just touching herself, while the second—normally during mating season—could only be taking care of through mating. It normally lasted five to thirteen days, in which the female would normally try to find a male to mate with. The heat of any female dog, including wolves, was the only time when they could get pregnant. If they mated any other time, it would not result in a pregnancy.

While male wolves were attracted to females for eighteen days during the time of the year both went into heat, females normally only went into heat for half of that time, but it could be up to thirteen days rather than only five to nine days. And Claws's heat had been lasting longer than it would in most females. She had been in heat for about twelve days and she wanted to get pregnant before it ended in the next one to three days.

During heat, as Claws was figuring out just now since it was her first time going into heat as a rather young she-wolf, she appeared nervous, easily distracted and more alert than usual all the time. She also urinated more often than she normally had prior to her heat. And Claws's change in behavior was caused by a shift in her hormone balance. Claws was ready to breed and she had attempted to initiate sexual interactions with Scar several times—elevating her hind quarters toward Scar whenever he had approached her, deflecting her tail to one side and tensing her rear legs.

And Claws hadn't forgotten about what else her body had been doing because of her. There was her vaginal discharge—it was blood-tinged and her vulva was swollen. When females become receptive to males, vaginal discharge decreases in amount and becomes straw-colored.

Scar was now thinking about when Claws's heat could've been. He remembered how Claws had begun acting more excited around him, such as the instance when she'd stuck her butt up in the air in front of him, revealing herself to him. But that wasn't all. Claws had begun licking and paying attention to her vulva, which had begun appear swollen almost three weeks ago. Her heat would end only when all discharge ceased and the vulva returned to its normal size. But Claws bleeding had ceased and been replaced by a clear or yellowish discharge having a very erotic effect her mate. But Scar had a lot of self-control and had been waiting for the moment Claws wanted to mate with him, not when he wanted to mate. It was always the female half of a couple who determined when and if she wanted to mate.

It was spring now, which was commonly the mating season for wild wolves, bears, and foxes because it allowed for their pups or cubs to grow up during the warmer seasons of mild-to-late spring, summer, and early fall to prepare for the colder seasons of mid-to-late fall, winter, and early spring. This was what humans called "Monoestrous species," which only went into bred one time out of the entire year, despite going into heat into the spring—mating season for wolves—and in the fall. Wolves were also "long-day breeders," which mated in the spring and summer, unlike their favorite prey, deer and caribou, which were "short-day breeders," mating in the fall and winter.

"What I'm saying, Scar," Claws said after a few minutes of silence, "is that I want to mate. You don't know how bad my heat it is...it's a fitting name! I feel like I'm burning up down here…" She motioned toward her crotch with her paws. "…and only one thing can stop it. Mating."

And before Scar could say anything, Claws did it again. She lifted her butt up in the air and moved her tail out of the way so Scar could see everything. And that aroused him almost as much as Claws was aroused in this moment.

"Come on, Scar! Take that big dick of yours and shove it so deep inside me that your knot almost goes in!" Claws almost begged as she waved her hips back-and-forth seductively.

Claws could see that her mate was hard and he couldn't take it anymore. Because her tail was up in the air, Scar could see Claws's pussy and her tailhole. She was wet, but that most likely due to her being in heat rather than having stroked her pussy with her paw briefly.

Scar mounted Claws quickly and stuck his inside her aroused and right pussy. He started thrusting in and out of Claws, resulting in a long and drawn-out cry of pleasure. With Scar's paws on her hips, his dick thrusting in and out of her, and her bushy tail against Scar's chest, Claws was in so much pleasure that she had an almost immediate orgasm. She released her clear yet white fluids all over his crotch.

Claws couldn't help but cry in pleasure now due to how aroused mating, when she was in heat and all wet, made her feel. She had once ridden Scar, during their adolescent, but she hadn't been in heat then, so it hadn't felt anywhere as good as it did this time. Nor had she been in heat when she had ridden Rider, an Alpha rogue from Banff, in an attempt to get information out of him. Information about King's plans to take over Jasper, which her pack had heard rumors about. But mating with Rider hadn't gotten him to talk, so Claws had let Rider give her anal sex, as much as she had hated receiving it. Unfortunately for Claws, that hadn't been enough either, and it had taken performing oral sex on Rider to get him to talk. But things had gone to hell for Rider after Claws had swallowed his semen. She had bitten Rider's dick off then tore his throat out because she knew he had been there to spy. Kate had sent Claws to get information out of him, then kill him.

Claws's plan wouldn't have worked if she had told Rider that she was a Jasper wolf. They probably would've fought to the death and that wouldn't have helped with Claws getting information from him. It was a desperate decision, but Claws had thought that was the only way to get information out of a rogue. She had been young and nowhere near as smart then as she was now. And she was lucky that it had worked—and even luckier that Scar didn't know about this, even if they hadn't been anything more than good friends and hunting partners at the time. They hadn't married until about three months after that happened. Claws hadn't returned to her pack's territory to give her information to Kate until after she had taken a good bath to rid herself of all sex-related scents.

But now Claws was mating with a wolf she actually loved and not some brutal rogue she had only pleasured to get information out of, mutilated and then puked up the semen of. And Scar was so much better at this type of mating then Rider had been, even if it was an entirely different type of mating that felt so much better.

"Oh, Scar!" Claws moaned in pure ecstasy. "You're so big! So hard!"

"And your pussy is so wet!" Scar complimented how aroused his mate was. It reminded him of how wet her mouth had been she had sucked his dick. Only this felt so much better than receiving oral sex from Claws. So much wetter and tighter. And Claws gave a mean blowjob. It wasn't like she was bad at them. In fact, she was probably better at giving oral sex than any other female wolf in their pack was, it seemed. The fastest Claws had ever made Scar ejaculate in her mouth was after just under six minutes. Most other females had to perform oral on their mates for eight to ten minutes before getting a different kind of mouthful. A stickier, warmer, and a saltier mouthful.

"I love being fucked by you!" Claws cried, with her tongue hanging out of her mouth, as Scar thrusted in and out of Claws quickly. It seemed that Claws felt even more aroused with every thrust of Scar's dick. Claws and Scar swore they could both feel her pussy getting wetter—more aroused—with every few minutes of thrusting that went by.

"Oh, yes!" Claws moaned. "You're making me feel so good—like a fucking queen! Go harder! Faster!"

It wasn't just the act of Scar shoving his dick in and out of her that aroused Claws but also the wet squishing sounds her pussy made when Scar's dick went into her. She was wet for two reasons—the powerful orgasm she'd had earlier and being in heat. A she-wolf's heat always made a female wet with discharges—not an orgasm—of her vaginal fluids.

"Harder!" Claws begged. "Faster! Deeper! Oh, fuck yes…I love it when you go balls deep in my pussy!"

The terms "balls deep" referred to when a male wolf put his dick so deep into his mate's pussy that only his knot and, well, balls were outside of his mate. The knot was the part of a male wolf's sex orgasm that was forced into his mate during his ejaculation, effectively "locking" the two together until all of his semen was released into the female. Even when that female was in heat, knotting her was the only thing that guaranteed her pregnancy.

"Faster!" Claws begged again. "Please go faster! It feels so good when you go faster!"

Scar kept on thrusting despite having an idea that would really made Claws beg for him to thrust "harder, faster, and deeper," as she had said. It seemed cruel, but he already knew that Claws wouldn't mind. She was in far too much pleasure to be offended by him or get pissed off at him.

"You want me to go faster, hmm?" Scar asked her with a strange tone in his voice. It was somewhat of a mocking, sarcastic tone of voice. Then he slowed down the speed at which thrusted in and out of Claws. And he didn't thrust as deeply or as hard as before, either.

It was all too much for Claws, who wanted to feel as much pleasure as possible before it was all over. "No!" she cried. "I don't want slower, less deep, and softer! I want harder, faster, and deeper! You'd better take that dick of yours and put it so deep into me that your knot almost goes in! You had better go back to going balls deep in me or I will get you on your back and then I'll hope on your dick until you cum in me!"

"Oh, Claws, you're begging," Scar continued in the taunting voice before going back to how he had been thrusting before.

"Damn you," Claws growled, but went back to moaning immediately because of how fast, hard, and deep Scar was thrusting now.

Scar could feel his climax—what wolves called their ejaculation—building up, so he began thrusting faster, even more determined to get Claws pregnant. They'd never thought about starting a family before now. That was probably due to this being the first time Claws had ever been in heat before, despite being at least two years old, which was adult age for wolves. Most she-wolves could get pregnant from around their second year of life, so it was understandable why Claws was suddenly in heat now, when she hadn't been for all previous mating seasons she had been around for.

"Oh, Claws…I'm gonna…" But Scar couldn't even finish his warning before he released his fluids into Claws womb, making her feel warm on the inside. And her heat was satisfied due to being ejaculated in—that was the only way a female's heat could be satisfied. Masturbation and oral sex had very little, if any, effect on a she-wolf's heat. Only mating could solve that problem.

"Oh, your knot!" Claws moaned in the moment she felt Scar cram his knot into her. They were "tied," as the wolves called it, and she wouldn't be "Your knot is inside me!"

A male only knotted a she-wolf when he had reached his ejaculation and so it guaranteed her pregnancy by allowing his sperm to reach her eggs and preventing her from escaping before he was done impregnating her. It was a process called insemination, which was the deliberate introduction of sperm into a female animal for the purpose of impregnating or fertilizing the female for sexual reproduction. The sperm is introduced into the uterus of a mammal, taking place during, and as the result of, sexual intercourse between a male and a female, when the male ejaculates into the female's reproductive tract, as Scar had done inside Claws's reproductive tract just now.

But Scar knew that Claws wouldn't leave him as he impregnated her. She wanted to be a mother so badly that she wouldn't leave even if he hadn't knotted her, but that wasn't possible. The male's instinct was to always knot the female, even if it wasn't necessary, such as being ridden by the female, or if the female wanted to get pregnant. It just happened and neither half of the couple had any control over it.

Claws and Scar would be tied together for about five minutes, not that they minded, but what happened next made them wish being tied was voluntarily, not just something that happened against their own will.

"Shit, oh shit, shit!" Claws screamed in horror when there was a growl, then they swore something rushed into their den as if it were a rabid animal. "SCAR!" Claws screamed again as blood flew through the air.

Claws feared it was the blood of the wolf who she was still tied to…but her attacker…it was…

But everything went black for Claws before she could get a good look at whatever was attacking them…

* * *

**Author's note:** If anyone is wondering who I knew so much information about she-wolves heat, how it makes them want to mate, and whatever else I said, I did A LOT of research about wolf reproduction before I wrote this. I didn't want it to seem as random as some of the other mating scenes I've written in past stories, so I included information about how female wolves were in heat around spring, and it wouldn't go away until they got pregnant. Everything in here (not directly A&O-related) is fact about wolves.


	7. Moonlight Massacre

**Chapter 6**

**Moonlight Massacre**

"Scar!" Claws screamed, even though she was no longer tied with her mate. "Oh, Scar…no…"

Scar was dead, his stomach torn open and his intestines ripped out. Claws and the few wolves who had heard her screaming were horrified by who the killer was. Fleet, Claudette's mate. And his body was horribly mutilated—his throat torn out, his soft underbelly split open, and his body half eaten by what looked like wolves, given the bite marks that covered his body.

"It doesn't make any sense," Princess said. "How could Fleet have done this if he's in this bad of physical condition?"

"I-I have no idea," Runt stammered, "but I'm just glad Claudette isn't here to see this…"

"I'm not here to see what?"

"Oh shit," Runt whispered, even though he normally never cursed.

"What is…" But Claudette stopped talking and moving when she saw the wolf's mutilated body. And when she realized who it was, she screamed like no wolf ever had before. "Fleet! No...what happened?!"

"I…don't want to think about it…" Kate said.

"Don't tell me it's zombies!" Claudette begged. "Please don't tell me it was zombies!"

"I don't know what to think…" Kate repeated.

Stinky shook his head as Princess and Mica attempted to console Claudette, just as a few other wolves were attempting to console Claws over Scar's death. "But…if Fleet is dead…then what about Magril, Melissa, Hutch, Candu, Robyn, and the others who went to The Howling Rock two days ago? They aren't here…"

"You sent Robyn!" Claws screamed. "My sister! What is wrong with you?! She can't handle anything the other Alphas and Betas can! You had might as well sent a pup!"

"She had volunteered to go," Kate explained. "I told her it would be a bad idea for her to go with them, but she wouldn't listen, so I just gave in and let her go. But I told Hutch and Candu to make sure nothing bad happened to her."

"What if something bad happened to all of them?!" Claws yelped. "If Fleet ended up like this, what about the others?!"

Humphrey looked to Kate for an answer. She knew what would have to be done. "We'll have to look for them," Kate said. "They probably started their search for the rogues at The Howling Rock, so we'll start our search there and hope we find them…alive."

* * *

"No!" Claudette screamed that when they saw Magril's head, half-eaten body lying in a bush. Candu wasn't far away from where Magril was—he was nothing more than a skeleton. A bloody skeleton. And then there was…

"Robyn!" Claws screamed. "Oh, first my mate, now my sister! W-Who will I lose next? Scarlet, my niece?! Fuck…"

"Hutch and Melissa…" Runt began but couldn't finish his sentence. He saw Melissa's half-eaten body near the mouth of one of the box canyons and Hutch wasn't far away from where her body was. Both of their half-eaten faces were stuck in expressions of fear and agony.

"They're all dead…" Stinky gasped. His mate, Mica, was comforting Claudette, who was weeping over her mate, Fleet, being dead. And because of her sister-in-law's death. And so many of her close friends were dead, too. She had known Hutch, Candu, and Robyn since she was only a pup. Fleet and Magril, too. They had met a year-and-a-half earlier when the Northern Pack had been competing against the united Eastern and Western Packs in The Great Wolf Games. Originally, Magril had been involved in those games, but had to drop out after spraining her paw. That meant only Fleet had been able to compete, so only Claudette had been allowed to compete rather than her and Stinky racing Fleet and Magril. The race had ended in a tie between Claudette and Fleet, with the judges not knowing how to break the tie.

Nars, an Alpha of the Northern Pack and the abusive father of Fleet and Magril, had made peace with his pups, but they'd never look at him the same again for what he had done to them. He hadn't cared all that much when Magril had hurt her paw by crashing into a rock and had threatened to hit Fleet for being in love with Claudette. When they were older, Fleet and Magril had had enough of their father's abusive ways, as their mother had when they were only balls of fuzz, and they left the Northern Territory to become Western wolves.

But now both Fleet and Magril were dead and Claudette was absolutely heartbroken. She couldn't imagine how Nars would take the news of his only pups' deaths. It was bad enough that Claudette already knew her mate and sister-in-law were dead, let alone seeing how they'd been torn to pieces by something! She couldn't imagine how Nars and his mate, who had separated from him, would react when they got the news of Fleet and Magril's deaths. And she dreaded the moment when they'd have to see the remains of their only pups. Fleet and Magril's mother had only given birth to them and no other pups, so if they learned their only children were dead, it may bring them back together, but for the worst of reasons.

"How are we going to break this to their families?" Humphrey asked. "Melissa and Hutch had puppies…they're orphans…"

"And Scarlet…how will I ever tell her that her mother is dead?" Claws cried.

"Then Nars and his mate…however will we tell them about what happened to Fleet and Magril?" Kate gasped. "This isn't going to be easy…"

* * *

Not many wolves went to that night's Moonlight Howl. Just under twenty—ten couples. The ten couples who did go to The Howling Rock were unaware of the bodies discovered there. Only the families of the deceased wolves had been told about the gruesome discovery and it would stay that way for a while.

Thankfully, the box canyon where the wolves were killed was unknown to the twenty wolves who had come to The Howling Rock. There hadn't been time to remove the bodies from the mountain for proper burial before wolves had arrived for The Moonlight Howl. But at least the wolves who had discovered the slaughter had managed to leave unnoticed or else they would've drawn attention to a place they wanted to be left alone. Hopefully they'd be able to have the deceased buried before any of the twenty wolves who had just arrived at The Howling Rock found them. Couples often ran off to mate on nights like this, in box canyons, so hopefully that one with the bodies in it wouldn't be found.

And the wolves also hoped, as they left The Howling Rock to return to their dens, that no more wolves would die. There was enough death recently—Scar, Fleet, Magril, Melissa, Hutch, Candu, Liam, and Winston. Eight wolves were far too many and those wolves leaving the mountain didn't want to see even a single wolf added to the body count, let alone the twenty who were at risk just being there. Kate and the others truly didn't know what had killed those eight wolves, or why Fleet had killed Scar, or if the killers were still there or not.

"Get back here!" the male wolf barked playfully as he chased his mate around The Howling Rock while many other wolves howled with each other. She was in heat and he knew it. They had been together for a while, but never had they mated. And now that she wanted to, they had their chance of starting a familiar of their own.

"You gotta catch me first if you want to stick that in me!" she called back to her mate, who was eyeing her because of how wet she was. And she could see, by looking "down low," that he wanted her.

"I'll catch you then…" he began

"…I'll hope on your boner like there's no tomorrow at the end of this box canyon!" she completed his sentence for him, even though it wasn't what he'd intended to say. But this female wanted her first time mating—when she was in heat—to be the best sex she'd ever had. That meant, in her mind, that she would ride her mate.

And she ran into one of the many box canyons that existed all around The Howling Rock. It wasn't the one where the bodies had been discovered or else this she-wolf would've come out screaming at the top of her lungs.

"No!" she let out a scream when she found herself cornered, then tackled, by a wolf.

It was a playful scream, of course, as it was her mate who had tackled her. They started to play fight as he attempted to stick himself in her. She wanted it, but she wanted to hope on it, not having him stick in her in. She wanted to be in control of her mate this time, not the other way around.

"Oh, yes!" she moaned when she felt her mate go inside her. She was on her belly, so he was mating with her in the position wolves called "doggy style," thrusting from behind her, with his front paws over her shoulders and her tail off to the side. "Fuck me harder!"

The female didn't know it, but she considered herself thankful with what happened next. She didn't see why it happened due to her eyes being closed in pleasure, but she felt her mate pull out of her. He screamed and by the time that she had a chance to look behind herself, he was gone and there was a rustling in the bushes.

"Are you just playing around?" the she-wolf asked, but received no answer. "Come on…say something…you're scaring me."

That time, she got an incoherent moan as a response. It was followed by the sound of flesh tearing and bones crunching in the jaws of a wolf. That drew her attention and she went into the bush, except to find her mate eating something. But why would he have run off so suddenly when they were mating?

But she didn't see her mate eating even though he was there. He wasn't eating anything—he was being eaten by another wolf! There was, obviously, blood everywhere but that wasn't all. He throat was torn out, and he was slashed open from his chest all the way down and all of those guts had spilled out. And that wolf was eating his guts, as well as tearing the flesh right off her dead mate's bones!

And she screamed. It was a scream like she had never let out before but it would also be the last sound she ever made. It was her scream that drew the attention of the wolf eating her mate's flesh and guts. It shambled toward the wolf who was frozen with fear and she screamed again as it brought her to the ground. The zombie wolf—not that she knew it was a zombie—sank its fangs into her skull, then pulled back, taking her fur with it. There was a sickening ripping sound as her fur was torn from her flesh, revealing the bloody meat underneath as the she-wolf's screams intensified.

But her attacker didn't stop with tearing some of her fur off. He went in for another attack, this time burying his fangs into her flesh, and pulling so hard that it came off just like her fur head. This time, her skull was revealed, and she was dead. Her eyes were stuck in a look of pain and her jaws were stuck in a scream. The zombie wolf gulped the torn-off flesh down quickly then went back to eating the female, tearing her soft underbelly open, and pulling her guts out. He slurped her intestines down like one would slurp down spaghetti-like pasta. Then he tore her stomach open, spilling its contents out, as the zombie wolf picked that up in his jaws. He swallowed her ripped open stomach in one gulp, a feat that would be impossible for any living wolf.

The zombie wolf was moaning as he buried his muzzle into the hole he had torn into her belly to eat more of her guts, starting with her liver and the smaller organs around it.

"Ahhhhhh!"

The scream carried all around, up, and down The Howling Rock and it caused all of the wolves who had been howling with their mates to stop howling. They all looked around as if doing so could tell them what the source of that blood-curdling scream was. All they did know was that it sent chills down all eighteen of their spines.

Immediately, there was chatter among the eighteen wolves:

"Who is it screaming?!" one female shouted.

"Is it the rogues?" a male shouted.

"We need to get out of here!" came the voice of another-wolf who had been riding her mate out in the open, but had stopped hopping on him. But she was so horrified by that scream that she couldn't make herself get off her mate if she wanted to. That put them both in danger because that male's knot had gone into her and they were "tied."

"What is going on?!" a younger female screamed.

"It's the rogues!" another male, the mate of the female who just screamed "What is going on," screamed. "We're getting out of here! Come on!"

And those two wolves ran down the path at the side of The Howling Rock at full speed only to run face-to-face into at least three zombie wolves. And their screams carried back up the trail as they were torn to pieces in a matter of seconds.

"Everyone get and stay together!" an older female, the oldest of the now sixteen wolves, ordered. "The rogues won't attack us if we stay in a group!"

But only fourteen of those sixteen wolves were able to huddle together. The two tied wolves were obviously unable to join the group. But what happened next sent that group of fourteen scattering in all directions. Two wolves with rotting flesh came out of an opening in the rock wall the two mating wolves were up against and tore them to shreds. Those wolves had rotting flesh, bones and guts exposed through holes in their bodies. And those two unfortunate wolves, caught in a position of love, met the most gruesome end possible—tied together after making love and torn limb-from-limb by other wolves. Their arms, legs, tails, and spinal columns were tossed about the two zombie wolves ripped them apart, spilling their guts out in a steaming pile of blood and gore.

The female, on top of the male and therefore the first one the two zombies attacked, had died first when her spine was ripped out, involuntarily taking her hip, rib cage, and skull with it. She had fallen on her top of her mate, nothing more than a boneless body of blood, flesh, and guts—well, guts before they were ravenously ripped out of her body. Her boneless and limbless body was quickly torn apart and left as nothing more than fragments of flesh before her mate, who was no longer tied with her, was ripped open, and mutilated in a matter of seconds. Just like an unfortunate she-wolf who had just found her mate being eaten in the bushes, the flesh and fur on his skull was ripped off brutally, ending his life as quickly as it had been ripped off his skull.

Two more couples had thought that if they were fast enough in running down the same hillside that the unfortunate pair had run down that they would escape but they shared the same fate of those wolves. They were torn ripped limb-from-limb until there was barely anything left that could prove they were once wolves, unless that included their skulls that had been stripped clean of flesh. But no one knew what little was left of them. They only heard the screams of those four wolves as they were ripped apart.

There was now only eight of the once twenty wolves—four couples out of ten—left and one of those eight wolves was bleeding from a bite to his neck. Another had sprained her paw against a rock and didn't last very long. She couldn't outrun the zombies, which were slower than a snail was, and was reduced to nothing in seconds. Her mate couldn't go on without her, and he also knew that his bite was a death sentence if the horror stories he'd been told were true, so he let the same zombies tear him apart as well.

And all but one of the six survivors was killed, but she, the oldest female and oldest out of the once twenty wolves, had suffered a bite to her hind leg. But, unlike the other bitten wolf who had let himself die, she didn't know the fatal consequences of being bitten by a zombie. She had no idea that she would become one in a matter of twenty-three to twenty-four hours.

She ran until her old legs couldn't carry her any further. That wouldn't have been bad if she hadn't ended up stuck in a crevice in the same moment more of those zombie wolves found her.

She had one last thought as the five zombies closed in on her. It was about her daughter…her daughter whose pups she would never get to see. Her grand pups…

_Please, Claws, don't find me like this_, she thought. _That's the last thing that you need to go through…_And then the world went black for her as the zombies closed in.


	8. A Depressed Beta

**Chapter 7**

**A Depressed Beta**

Depressed. That's what Claws was. Depressed over her mate's death, killed by Fleet. But why would Fleet suddenly go crazy like that and murder a wolf he was close friends with? And she was still in excruciating pain over what had happened when Scar had gotten pulled off of her by Fleet. They had just mated and Scar had just knotted her, meaning that they had been tied together. But when Fleet had pulled Scar off, an act that had ripped him and Claws apart. Sure, Scar gotten pulled clean out, but Claws had gotten ripped apart down there in the process.

There had been so much blood coming from her once aroused vagina and it had ripped and stretched so badly that it had felt like she had been set on fire. A wolf's skin wasn't made to stretch that like and it felt like her body had been put through Hell when that happened. Physical hell. There was nothing that a she-wolf considered more of a personal Hell than being knotted by her mate only to get that forcibly ripped out of her, almost mutilating her vagina in the process.

It had been several days ago when that happened, and when the brutal remains of so many more wolves were discovered at The Howling Rock. Claws' little sister, Robyn, was among them. Claws and her now orphaned niece Scarlet were experiencing great grief over Robyn's death. Claws lost her only sister who had anything to do with her and Scarlet had lost her mother. Her father had died years earlier. They only had each other now.

"No!" Claws screamed. The realization that both her mate, and oldest friend, Scar, and her only close sibling, Robyn, were dead had just sunk in. "They can't be gone! Oh, oh…" She collapsed on her knees. "Oh…how could this have happened?" Claws and Scarlet were both sobbing and releasing large tears. Claws had never cried before, but now that she was, she wasn't holding back her tears or her grief. She couldn't hold back tears and grief even if she wanted to. Losing her mate and sister was too much for her to handle. And losing her mother was far too much for Scarlet to handle. Scarlet had never known her father, so to lose the only parent she had ever known was the worst thing she could go through. She still had her mate and her pups, but would her life ever be the same without her mother, who had always been there for her?

Claws was probably experiencing the most grief between the two she-wolves. She lost her mate, her oldest friend, her best friend, and the wolf who would've become her puppies' father if he hadn't died. How would she ever raise anywhere from six to eighteen puppies without a father?

But Claws doubted that she would have any more than ten puppies, considering how bad of physical trauma she experienced not too long ago. Her vagina getting ripped and stretched when Scar's not was forcibly pulled out of it was about the worst physical trauma nay she-wolf could handle.

And that bloody incident was the whole reason Claws was still in Eve's den, being taken care of by the pack healer, in addition to her assistants Candy and Sweets. Reba and Janice were back as well. Reba was back because Eve had needed more help with taking care of Claws' grievous injuries, while Janice's brown recluse bite had gotten so much worse in the past few days. Janice had apologized for what she said to Eve, and Eve had accepted it, but now she might lose a good portion of her back.

There wasn't much that could be done for Claws' vagina, beyond stopping the pain and bleeding. And there wasn't much that could be done for Janice's spider bite now. It was far beyond help. Her body would just have to fight off any disease caused by the venom of the bite on its own. Janice was experiencing severe necrosis, the unplanned death of skin cells. Even Claws, with the most sensitive part of her entire body next to mutilated, was better off than Janice was. There was nothing worse than having the amount of rotted flesh on one's back that Janice had. It was all black and unable to bleed. Her blood vessels and flesh were entirely dead and the blood had died because of the necrosis afflicting the area. It looked like a mass of black, dead, and rotted flesh.

"Oh, fuck me!" Janice screamed in nothing more than agony. "Fucking kill me!"

Claws was still in so much pain that she didn't even hear Reba screaming and cursing. Her crotch was all red, due to the swelling and tearing of her flesh, not the blood. And it was tender to the touch, so when it came to being treated by Eve, Candy, Sweets, and Reba, they had to be extremely careful with any treatments they attempted. But so far, it had just involved a whole of application of plants that acted as painkillers and antibiotics. No one could imagine how much infection could be in her torn flesh.

"Fucking fucker!" Claws screamed, as Eve attempted to apply more of her herbal mixture she had made just for Claws' specific injuries. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fucking kill me!"

"It's going to hurt if you keep moving like that, Claws!" Eve shouted. "Now stop it!"

"Okay, yeah, I'll stop it when my fucking pussy was ripped apart because of a fucking zombie-like Fleet!" Claws roared.

"At least calm down, then," Eve said.

"Go shove a tree branch up your pussy, then I'll tell you to calm down, because that is how I fucking feel right now!" Claws snapped.

But Eve knew that was the pain talking, not Claws herself. This time, Eve didn't get angry, as she had with Janice, because she knew that Claws was going through Hell and needed to release a lot of anger. Anger caused by her pain call because of, what she wouldn't accept as real, a zombie.

"Oh, forgot my pain!" Claws started crying. She now remembered that her mate and her sister were both dead and she fell flat on her back, screaming, cursing, and bawling her eyes out. "Scar!" she screamed. "Robyn! Oh, no…why did this have to happen to any of our families?! This is all just some nightmare that I can't wake up from! No, damn it! This is just some horrible nightmare induced by eating too mean of those fermented berries before going to sleep at night! NO!"

Sweets approached Claws, who was a nervous wreck and couldn't even control herself emotionally. Claws may not the strongest-willed wolf in the pack, unlike Princess, but it was horrible to see her acting like this. Hesitantly, Sweets wrapped her wrong legs around Claws, as best that a wolf could actually hug another wolf, and she was careful in hugging Claws.

Claws started whimper and buried her face in Sweets' breast fur. Sweets felt her fur get wet with Claws' tears, but she didn't care. Sweets just patted Claws on the back and kept on whisper that everything would be okay for now on. But none of the wolves in the cave realized how wrong Sweets' words would prove to be and how most of them may not last long with the bloody events to come given their knowledge of survival.

But regardless, Sweets whispered in one more time in Claws' ear. "Everything will be alright," she whispered at a volume only the Beta wolf could hear. "I promise, everything will be alright for now on…"

But on the next night, all of Jasper would go straight to Hell. No, Hell would come to Jasper…and so would the dead. The undead.


	9. The Undead Raise Hell on Earth

**Chapter 8:**

**The Undead Raise Hell on Earth**

All hell had broken lose. Hundreds of wolves throughout Jasper Park were dead. The amount of casualties was massive and far too high to count all because of a sudden and unexpected attack of undead wolves. The survivors, probably no more than seventeen wolves, knew for sure that Tony, Salty, Shakey, and Mooch had died. But it had been so chaotic for the past three days that the possibly seventeen survivors had been given no choice but to find whomever they could to form small groups of survivors. In some cases, that meant wolves were separated from their mates and other relatives.

The only seventeen survivors were Kate, Lilly, Humphrey, Princess, Eve, Garth, Claudette, Runt, Stinky, Mica, Gemma, Claws, Candy, Sweets, Reba, Janice, and Daria. And they had split up into five different groups because of the chaos. The first and largest group was made up of Kate and Humphrey, Lilly, Eve, Runt, Claudette, Stinky and his mate Mica. Princess and Garth were elsewhere, trying to find their way back to their survivor family members. Reba, Janice, and Gemma were still together, but mourning the death of Shakey, the mate of Janice and therefore the adoptive father of Gemma. They had no idea that Salty and Mooch were also dead. The last group of wolves was Candy and Sweets, who were trying to find the vegetarians and Gemma.

But there were two wolves out there who could possibly be alive. Claws and Daria. Claws had gotten away because Tony had sacrificed himself for the Beta wolf who had been so loyal to him during their time as Eastern wolves who were rivals of the Western wolves.

Kate, Humphrey, and the other six survivors of their group were living in the Alpha den now. As foolish as that seemed, it was actually the safest place for the eight living wolves to be as the undead ones couldn't climb the steep ledge to reach them. The zombies lacked the mobile skills and agility of living wolves that allowed them to climb up steep inclines such as this one. They could stay in the Alpha den for as long as they wanted to, but they couldn't stay there constantly as they needed to go hunt food for themselves. A dangerous and life threatening act now, considering the zombies that had slaughtered all but, that they knew of, seventeen wolves in only a week's time.

While Kate, Lilly, Eve, and the male survivors in the group—Humphrey, Runt, and Stinky—normally went looking for food, Claudette and Mica stayed behind in the cave as they wouldn't handle any danger well. It was for their own good that they stayed behind while the more levelheaded wolves went looking for food. But none of them was out looking for food now as it was night out. And even though wolves could see perfectly in the dark, that didn't do anything to help the fact that they were tired now and preferred sleeping at night. It wasn't dangerous at night because they couldn't see the zombies out there but because they were normally sleepy by that time and didn't want to venture out at any time of day when they were tired.

By the time the eight wolves did wake up, the sun was high in the sky and they were wide away, ready to go looking for food. They just hoped that they would find something to eat and not be found then become something that gets eaten. And, as usual, Claudette and her sister-in-law stayed behind. But so did Eve this time as she felt something bad was going to happen after a week of these eight wolves being fine. She didn't know what it was, but she was afraid that someone would die and she just knew it would be one of these two in the cave, even if that were next to impossible. The zombies couldn't climb an incline as steep as this one, so what could it be if something bad was going to happen to them?

Was something bad going to happen to Kate, Humphrey, Lilly, and the two boy pups on this hunt? Eve was praying that nothing bad would happen to any of the eight—ever. And she hoped that the other nine survivors were just as lucky as they were to have found such a safe den to live in and fall back to in times of danger.

Kate, who always led the hunts that now Jasper had gone to Hell, had the same bad feeling that her mother did, but she hadn't told the others hunting with her about it. She didn't want to spook them with her bad feelings. Just like her mother, Kate was afraid that something bad was going to happen. But, unlike Eve, she didn't fear that someone would die. Instead, she feared that their group would be split apart, even though she didn't have any feeling about what would do it. But common sense told her that the zombies would be response. What else could be? The rogues? That would be impossible as Banff was well over a hundred miles away from Jasper Park. No signs of the rogues had been found in Jasper ever since the last battle with them about six months ago when they had been defeated and run for their lives after King and Queen were finally killed.

Also as usual, Humphrey was right by Kate's side as they looked around the area for anything they could eat. It seemed that the only things dead were the wolves as they looked around the bloody clearing for anything to eat that hadn't been infected with the zombie virus. The wolves were positive that the only way to become one of those zombies was if they were infected with the virus. And that could only happen if one was wounded by the zombies. Kate had seen it happen to Hutch when they had been looking for a safe place to sleep at night. He had been bitten and they'd found him turning into one of them. And Eve had put an undead Hutch out of his misery by crushing his skull with a good-sized rock out of pure instinct. That was how they had learned that the only way, or at least the best way, to kill the zombies was to destroy their brain. But for wolves, that was easier said than done, even if it had been able to do it easily. Not all of them were as strong as Eve and Garth were, though. They couldn't just go out and lift up a good-sized stone while standing on their legs like Eve or Garth could.

Humphrey, being the good mate and father he was, could sense that something was bothering Kate just by the way she was moving. Normally she moved much more calmly and fluidly, but not now. She seemed on edge and nervous about something as she moved. He could tell by how harshly she was moving. She normally never moved so harshly. So what could be bothering her so badly that she was acting this way now? Sure, Jasper had gone to Hell and was now overrun with zombies, but she hadn't been acting like this until today. And there was no way Kate could've hidden such a behavior from her mate—it was possible for Kate to keep her distress secret from Humphrey, even if it was in the most discrete amount.

"What's bothering you?" Humphrey asked her, causing the entire hunting group to stop in its tracks.

"W-What do you mean?" Kate stammered, trying to act as if nothing was bothering her.

"Don't do that," Humphrey said. "I'm your mate. I can always tell when something is bothering you. Just tell me, please."

Kate froze with horror. Not because of her bad feeling or because of what Humphrey had said but because of what she saw moving behind her mate and the others.

"Z-Z-Z-Zombies…" Kate stammered out the word. "B-B-Behind you…"

"What?" Humphrey gasped.

"ZOMBIES!" Kate screamed now, causing the other members of the small hunting group to spin around in the same horror that Kate had frozen with.

"Run!" Humphrey ordered.

"No!" Kate argued. "I'm not leaving you!"

"Just run! I'll find you all once I've led them away!"

Kate, Runt, and Stinky couldn't help but cry. Humphrey had never been this brave before and now they could lose him. They never wanted to lose Humphrey, their mate or father, even in a situation like this. What would their lives be like if he died for them? A bigger Hell than they already were.

"Humphrey!" Kate cried as her mate ran away from them and the zombie wolves, at least fifteen of them, followed behind him, shambling slowly. The zombies seemed to now be unaware of Kate and the others' presence and only went after Humphrey, who disappeared around a hillside with the zombies right behind him.

They waited there at least half an hour for Humphrey to return, even after Eve, Claudette and Mica had come to see if everything was alright. Stinky told them about what Humphrey had done for them. "We can't do anything for him now," Eve said. "I'm sorry, but we must return to the den and wait for him to come back. He'd never stay gone for long. I promise you all that he's alright. A wolf could never get caught by something that moves so slowly."

Daria was standing at the cliff of the Saw Tooth cave, having fled there from the Western Territory the very day all Hell had broken loose. Her first instinct had been to flee to Shadow Forest then find the Saw Tooth cave where Floyd, the porcupine who had raised her, still lived despite her living in a den with Runt's family now.

Daria was a she-wolf, from the Southern Pack like Mica was, who was born blind to parents in the Southern Pack. And the Alpha male of their pack, a cruel wolf, but far from being as cruel as King and Queen were, had attempted to kill Daria because she was blind and had stumbled into a log rather than going over it. But Daria's mother had snatched her daughter up in her jaws at the last second and ran off with her. The other two pups, a male and a female, had stayed with their father while Daria's mother had run off into Shadow Forest to get away from the Alpha male and several other Alphas. But her plan had failed as they'd tracked her to Shadow Forest, where she had been forced to leave her blind pup in a bush.

Daria's mother had then run off, hoping to just lure the other Southern Wolves away, but she had got captured by them, and was severely punished for going against pack law. Daria had gotten away with the help of a male porcupine called Floyd who had led her to the Saw Tooth Cave. And the Southern Wolves never found her as they were too afraid to set foot into the cave, believing it was full of evil spirits. Daria's had been taken back to the Southern Pack's territory, where she had been given the worst punishment. Death. A slow death. First, the Alpha male had ordered her to be starved, only allowing her to have water. Then there was much more and much worse after that. They had began beating her and insulting her for protecting her blind pup. And she hadn't even been allowed to see her mate or other two pups for what she had died. Daria's mother died alone and cold in a cave where the head Alphas had dropped her off to die.

Daria had grown up in the Saw Tooth cave, never leaving and being taken care of by Floyd, the porcupine who saved her life after being left in the bush by her mother. Floyd had kept her safe and fed, making sure she had gotten enough food and water to survive. But neither of them ever learned the fate of her mother, despite the ghost that had protected the cave from any intruders, even those who didn't know Daria was there or those with good intention. One of those wolves was Runt, who had seen her in the cave when he'd climbed a tree during a session of Omega school. But he had fallen out of the tree when the ghost of Daria's mother had scared him so bad that he'd froze in the position he had landed in after falling.

But when Runt had gone back to the Saw Tooth cave for a second time, he had been able to get inside it per Daria's instructions, only to be told to come back the next day. And he did and talk to Runt had caused Daria to have a flashback of the day she was separated from her mother, whose fate she didn't learn until Kate and Humphrey had taken her back to where the Southern Pack lived during the colder months of the year—Rabbit Poo Mountain. But it wasn't the Alpha male or any of the other higher-ranking Alphas who had told Daria about her fate. It was her only sister, Lois, who had told her, as she, her brother and father had been forced to watch the punishment of Daria's mother.

And even though Daria had finally learned the fate of her mother, something she had been trying to learn for the two years since she had fled the Southern Territory, that had been the end of her hellish life. The Alpha male, just him, had followed her to the edge of Shadow Forest just to finish what he had started two years earlier. That was killing Daria. But thanks to Runt, he didn't get to lay a paw on her. Runt had called for the ghost who he had assumed was protecting Daira, the ghost of her murdered mother, and she took care of the Southern Pack's Alpha male. No one had seen him since and they assumed the ghost had either taken him somewhere far away from Jasper so he could never hurt Daria again. Many believed that the ghost had actually taken him straight to Hell, a place where those same wolves believed he believed for what he had done to ruin two years of Daria's life. Others believed that the ghost had killed him, while there was a small few who believe the ghost just made him gone. Destroyed anything all physical proof of the Southern Alpha male's existence. Turned him to dust then condemned him to Hell for making her daughter's life Hell for two years and basically making her an orphan as Daria had barely gotten to know her mother before being separated from her family.

"Oh, why is this happening?" Daria said to herself as she looked out from the safety of the Saw Tooth Cave to see the chaos that was a result of the last hellish week. "Am I the only one left…" She hadn't seen any of it, as she was blind, but she had heard the carnage and could smell it. She could smell the scent of death coming from all the wolves who had been killed by the zombies and all of the zombies themselves. It was unbearable. Daria couldn't stand it, even when she buried her muzzle in her paws or the moss growing in her cave. The scent was far too strong to keep from reaching her nose. It made her feel ill and want to throw up, it was so horrible of a smell.

Floyd was not far away from her, seemingly sleeping in one of the corners of the cave. Daria couldn't blame him for being tired. They were both exhausted because of what it had taken to get her safely into the Saw Tooth Cave. There wasn't a place safer than the Saw Tooth cave. Not in all of Jasper. It was next to impossible to get in this cave, even for living wolves. Daria had barely made it into the cave without getting wounded by a zombie that had been following her from Kate's den all the way to Shadow Forest. And it was still down there, relentlessly trying in vain to get up to Daria to eat her and Floyd.

But Daria was entirely unaware of the fact that her old friend Floyd, whom she basically owed her life to as he'd raised her after being left behind by her murdered mother, had suffered a bite from the zombies when he had gone looking for her when things had gone to Hell. And Floyd had no idea what the consequences of being bitten, or otherwise wounded, by a zombie meant for him. But Daria, however, had witnessed what can happen first hand in the time it had taken her to return to the Saw Tooth Cave.

And it had been at least an entire day since Floyd had been bitten, so Daria was entirely unaware of why he hadn't stirred for some time since it was still morning out. He never slept during the day, even when he was overly exhausted like he had been, but Daria was letting him sleep. She figured that after a day of sleep, Floyd would be feeling much better.

"Are you alright?" Daria asked her oldest friend when she heard him moaning incoherently. She didn't think about what his odd moans could mean. She figured he was just tired or having a bad dream. But Floyd didn't answer, unless his strange moans counted as an answer.

"Say something," she whined, but he did not respond yet. "Please say something…"

Floyd let out an intense moan then sat straight up and turned around to look at Daria. A look of horror came over the she-wolf's face even though she couldn't see him at all. She could just sense that he was one of those zombies. And she could sense that there was a bite on his neck even though she hadn't known about it and it was impossible for her to see it. She just sensed things, especially when something was wrong with those whom she was close to, such as Runt and Floyd.

"Oh, Floyd!" Daria cried miserably. "You can't be one of them! No…no…please…no!" Floyd's death, and return to life as something much worse than anything Daria had ever seen, was probably the worst event in her life other than learning that her mother had been murdered by her own pack's Alpha male. And she hoped her mother's ghost had taken him straight to Hell, where he belonged!

"FLOYD!" Daria screamed and then did the one thing that she'd never imagined having to do. She took up the rock in her cave and busted Floyd's skull to fragments of bone and brain matter when he tried to bite her. She couldn't see the result, but she could picture it in her mind. Daria never imagined having to kill her oldest friend because he turned into a zombie.

Daria removed his body from the cave immediately, even if that broke her heart even more than killing him already had, and then cleaned up the gory mess, so she would prevent the chance of getting infected because of her oldest friend's remains. And then she went to the back of the Saw Tooth Cave to cry herself to sleep, as the ghost of her mother circled around Daria, sensing her daughter's grief.

"Oh, Floyd," Daria wept. "Floyd…no…why did this have to happen?! What am I going to do without him?"

Daria had no idea how she would survive now. She had no one with her to get her food and water! Floyd was on her mind when she finally fell asleep eight hours later, long after darkness had arrived. And she cringed at the sound of the zombies' moans now.

* * *

**Author's note:** For those who haven't seen A&O4 yet, I'm sorry about the spoilers. I can't assume who has seen A&O4 and who hasn't, and I'm not going to write my stories spoiler free. I never will. Anyway, if you haven't seen it yet, Daria is a she-wolf and new character in A&O4, as is Floyd and her pack's Alpha male and relatives. None of them are OCs.


	10. Two Best Friends and Daria's Grieving

**Chapter 9**

**Two Best Friends Alone and Daria's Grieving**

"Run, Candy!" the dark orange she-wolf screamed as she and her best friend ran for their lives, again, from the zombie wolves.

"I've been running Sweets," Candy screamed, "ever since this all started! Where can we go?!"

"The trees!" Sweets screamed again. "To the trees! Just like what Runt taught us!" Sweets was referring to how the youngest son of Kate and Humphrey had taught himself to climb trees when he had been only a pup. But now, as an adult, Runt had taught many wolves how to climb trees—his family, Candy, and Sweets were among them.

Candy and Sweets found the first large tree they could. It was an ancient oak tree, but they could both tell that it had strong branches as they climbed up it, nearing those branches. Candy and Sweets were both geniuses with it came to knowing their plants and trees due to working with Eve, the pack healer, as her assistants. But now, as they climbed the tree, they wondered if Eve had survived or not. The two wolves didn't reach any of the branches until they had climbed more than half way up the oak. They made themselves at home for the night on two branches that were massive and basically side-by-side. Candy and Sweets refused to travel at night—despite doing so now, but that was because their last safe haven had been overrun with zombies—for the same reason that Kate's group refused to. Candy and Sweets were both exhausted from yet another day of running away from the zombies after losing yet another safe haven to then. But they couldn't possibly lose this one as it was many feet in the air. Not unless the zombies learned to climb trees all of a sudden. But Candy and Sweets weren't fools—they knew that, from surviving for over a week in zombie-infected Jasper, that these zombies weren't smart enough or agile enough to climb trees. And they definitely had no chance of learning how to quickly.

Sweets had one burning question on her mind as she started into the horrified eyes of her best and oldest friend whom she had known since her puppy days. She and Candy were both shaking with fear due to the sound of the zombies' moaning. It chilled their bones and made their hackles stand up on end. But at least the zombies couldn't reach the two she-wolves up in this tree.

"Will we live to see the morning?" Sweets finally managed to ask the dark question that had only been asked in her mind until now. She had a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach, as did Candy. "Oh, I don't want to die," she wailed, then started crying loudly. Tears ran down her beautiful and normally cheerful face. Sweets was normally always smiling, but now, she couldn't smile if she wanted to. And she didn't! What kind of wolf could even force a smile, let alone do it willingly, in this sort of situation? Not a sane one!

Candy didn't know what to say, but was wondering the exact same thing that Sweets had just asked. Would they really survive the night, given how things had been Hell for them in the past week? Or would they both be bitten and join the ranks of the undead? Or would they both be entire consumed by the zombies and only their skeletons be left behind for other survivors to come across if they happen to come through Shadow Forest? Would only Sweets live? Or would only Candy live? Those questions were only a small fraction of the questions buzzing around in Candy and Sweets' heads. They were also wondering so many things about the other fifteen survivors.

Especially Daria. That poor she wolf was blind and they remembered seeing Daria running for her life a week earlier. Candy and Sweets both hoped that Daria had made it back to the Saw Tooth Cave in Shadow Forest. That was surely the only place in all of Jasper that was perfectly safe from zombies—as long as no infected individuals were let inside. Meaning no one who had been wounded by the zombies could be allowed in to keep it that safe. Living wolves could easily get up the hillside that led to the Saw Tooth Cave, if the ghost of Daria's mother allowed it, but zombie wolves were the least agile things they had ever seen. Between that fact about the zombies and the ghost that made sure Daria was safe, no zombies would ever get to Daria. But Candy and Sweets both prayed that Daria wasn't all alone, regardless of her location, as no blind wolf could successfully hunt enough to keep herself alive. She would not be able to get herself enough prey to keep herself alive and would eventually starve to death if the zombies didn't get her first on her hunts.

Candy sighed. "I don't want to think about that…I'm just glad that we're alive now. Let's not think about the future when the entire world has gone straight to Hell anyway."

"How do you that it is the entire world that is overrun with zombies and not just Jasper?" Sweets asked with a shaking voice.

"This spreads through a virus," Candy explained. "Why do you think anyone who is hurt by these zombies turns into one? Obviously it spreads only through being wounded by the zombies…"

"I-I don't really want to talk about this…" Sweets stammered, remembering how they had found their mates, Salty and Mooch, turning into zombies back in the Western Pack's Territory. And both of their mates had had bites from other wolves on their shoulders.

"Get some sleep," Candy told her best friend, who was lying on the branch, on her belly, with her legs sprawled out over the edges of the limb. Candy was still setting up, however.

"You too," Sweets told Candy back, then drifted off into a sleep.

* * *

Daria was wailing and bawling over eyes out over the sudden death, then return to life, of her oldest friend Floyd, the porcupine who had raised her as a pup and was the reason she was still alive today. She wouldn't be alive if it weren't for Floyd and now her was dead…she'd had to destroy his skull when he had attacked her after turning into a zombie before her eyes (as the figure of speech went, considering that she was blind and therefore hadn't actually seen it happen). But she had heard it and that was just as bad as seeing it was in Daria's mind. Daria was all alone now, as she wailed miserably over Floyd's death at her own paws, even though she would've died if she hadn't destroyed her oldest friend and, yes, adoptive father.

Daria had considered Floyd to be like a second father, even though she barely knew her real father due to having been taken away from her pack by her mother when the now dead Alpha male had tried to kill her. And now she had no family left. Her mother had been murdered years earlier and she just felt deep in her heart, even if she wanted to deny it that Lois (her sister), her brother, and her father were all dead…or undead. She hoped that, if they were gone, that they were just dead. She would die inside even more if she found out they were undead. She didn't want her family or any of the other wolves whom she was good friends with to become zombies. As for her own pack, they could all be eating alive and down to the bone, for all she cared, because of what they had done to her. Her old pack had ruined her life, just like a certain wolf called Griffin—the father of Mica—had ruined his entire litter of children's' lives. The Southern Pack seemed to be full of cruel wolves. The Eastern and Western Wolves would never try to kill a disabled pup, blind or otherwise. It just felt wrong to those wolves and to the Northern Pack.

The ghost of her mother was still in the Saw Tooth cave, watching over her daughter, wishing that she could do something to get Daria food. But a ghost couldn't handle any physical object. Only make them disappear, as she had done to the Alpha male of their pack when he had tried to kill Daria two years ago. Daria would starve unless some living wolves from the United Pack happened to come across the Saw Tooth Cave and know Daria was in there. That wolf, or those wolves, could hunt for her, and get away if the threat of zombies proved to be too great.

"Floyd…" Daria moaned miserably, kicking as she had a nightmare about what had happened in the safety of her cave only hours earlier. "…Floyd…" She was kicking and whimpering due to a nightmare that was much darker and more horrible than the actual events that had taken place around the time she had put Floyd out of his misery. In her mind, that was what she had done. Being dead was better than being undead, she had said told herself, but not found any comfort from that.

"FLOYD!" Daria screamed suddenly and woke up with a fright, nearly hugging herself just to see if she wasn't dead. "Oh, Floyd!" she wailed miserably again. "What will I ever do without you?! Floyd! Floyd…"

And she wouldn't get back to sleep on this stormy night, even though the sound of the rain falling normally soothed Daria, due to the grief over Floyd's death, and an endless stream of dark nightmares about having to end his suffering.

* * *

Daria wasn't the only wolf who couldn't sleep on this night. Candy couldn't sleep either, but due to different reasons than what Daria had. She couldn't sleep because of the zombies' incessant moaning that drove her crazy and sent chills down her spine. It made her hackles, ears, and tail stick up involuntarily. These were the worst chills Candy had ever had in her life. And she had never been this scared, of dying and in general, in her life. Compared to this, when they had been at war with the rogues months ago was Heaven! This was pure Hell. Hell on Earth. And Candy didn't wouldn't even want to go on living if it weren't for Sweets, her best and oldest friend, being here with her. If she were all alone, she probably would've killed herself by now just because she would've gone insane. But she would never let those zombies take her out. If she died, she'd want to stay dead, not become undead.

Sweets, however, was sleeping calmly now that she had managed to fall asleep. But that didn't mean that she was entirely peaceful in her sleep. She would occasionally whimper or kick one of her hind legs. It wasn't due to a nightmare, but the sounds she could hear faintly in her sleep. The constant moaning of the zombie wolves that must've found out they were in the tree. There were at least five zombie wolves shambling about underneath the tree, so that made for a loud and unpleasant chorus of undead moaning. It was Hell for Candy's ears as the combined volume of the moaning was too much for them. And it had gotten so bad that Sweets suddenly woke up cursing and ranting at the zombies. "Go away!" Sweets screamed. "Just go away! Leave us be! Go away, damn it! Just go away you undead bastards!"

"Sweets, Sweets, calm down!" Candy urged.

Sweets didn't take too kindly to being told to calm down, even if it was done by her best friend. "Fuck off!" she roared, feeling no remorse about saying that to the wolf she had known longer than anyone else had. "You can fuck off! The zombies can fuck off! The entire world can fuck off as far as I'm concerned, if it's not already overrun with zombies!"

"Sweets…" Candy was crying. She never would've expected her dearest friend to act like this, especially toward her. Then the sudden sound of wood cracking and splintering horrified both of the she-wolves, who forget all about what Sweets just said. And then there was an intense splitting sound right before Sweets disappeared from Candy's view just as suddenly as the noise had started. And Candy screamed as she fell several hundred feet to the ground, landing back first. Candy could hear the sound of Sweets' bones breaking upon impact with the ground. Now, Sweets was screaming loudly in agony, as her back and many ribs were shattered, and her screams had drawn the attention of the zombies that had left the area only minutes earlier.

"SWEETS!" Candy screamed as the zombies closed in on her broken friend, who screamed louder than ever now that the zombies were inching closer and closer to her. Sweets couldn't move and didn't have a choice about watching the zombies slowly close in on her. Watching death slowly close in on her.

"Candy!" Sweets began uttering her last words. "Look awaaaaaaaayyyyyy!" Sweets started screaming again as teeth and claws of the zombie wolves began tearing her flesh and ripping her open. Candy was fortunate not to see what was happening to her oldest friend. Sweets flesh and fur coat had been ripped off her chest, expose her ribs, the broken and the whole ones. Another of the four zombie wolves was tearing her apart at the belly, ripping the organs of her digestive system out. Her intestines went first, stuck in the jaws of a she-wolf who looked a lot like Sweets. It was Lois, the sister of Daria. And while that happened, another of the zombies tore Sweets' throat out as the wolves kept on just eating various parts of her body ravenously.

Candy couldn't see any of it has she'd turned her back on the gruesome scene, but she could hear it plainly and that was bad enough, having to go through hearing her oldest friend being ripped apart by other wolves who had once been their friends, too. And Candy's grief was so bad that she didn't even notice that the tree branch she was on was starting to splinter as well. But she found out when it made a loud cracking sound and then she fell right down onto Sweets' body as the zombies were tearing it apart.

"No!" Candy screamed, for she had met the same fate Sweets had only minutes earlier. Her back was broken and so were many other of her bones. She had heard of each of them break. And the last thing Candy saw before dying was the jaws of the zombie wolves coming toward her next.


	11. All Alone in a Shadow Forest

**Chapter 10**

**All Alone in Shadow Forest**

Claws was all alone in Shadow Forest, just like Candy and Sweets had. And Reba and Janice. But all four of them were dead. Claws had come across the gruesome scene at the base of the oak tree where Candy and Sweets had been killed. And right after that, she had found the vegetarians. Reba was a zombie and Janice her first meal. Very little had been left of Candy, Sweets, and Janice, but just enough for Claws to know it was them.

Now, she was resting under the shadow of a large pine tree, trying to regaining her strength and breath after finally having a chance to flee the Western Territory. Like Kate and the rest of her family, not that she knew they were still alive, Claws had stayed her in den for the past week, and had just left for Shadow Forest now. She was trying to find the Saw Tooth Cave because she knew it was impossible for anything as sloppy in movement as zombies were to climb up a slope like the one outside of the Saw Tooth Cave. And she hoped that Daria would be there, as Claws didn't want to be all alone in Jasper. And she didn't want Daria, whom she knew was blind, to be all alone either. If Floyd were dead, Daria would need someone to do the hunting for her. And Claws had been hunting successfully in the few hours she had been away from the Western Territory, catching all sorts of small to mid-sized animals with easily, and making them into easily meals without using too much energy to catch them.

Claws still missed Scar and was mourning him as she rested underneath this pine tree. She still remembered seeing him getting killed by an undead Fleet only a few days ago, after they had mated, and he had knotted her, only to get her mate forcibly ripped out of her by an undead Fleet, basically mutilating her vagina in the process, and making her sterile. And then she had witnessed Scar getting ripped apart by Fleet, an event that made her believe the zombie threat was real and not just something only real in Kate and Mica's nightmares.

Claws couldn't forget that blood day, probably the bloodiest day of her entire life. Claws had been brutal in killing animals on hunts before and during the battle with Banff not that long ago, but the bloody carnage she had caused then paled in comparison to the bloodiness of Scar's death and everything else that had happened involving the zombies. She had never seen so much blood and guts in her life as she had in that moment.

Claws started crying. Crying over the death of her mate, the pain she was still feeling physically and emotionally, and the Hell she had gone through for the past week of her life, which she just feared would be ending soon if she didn't get to somewhere safe or find another wolf, or more wolves, to travel with. Since she wasn't exactly the strongest wolf in Jasper Park, Claws doubted that she'd be able to last for long without other wolves to watch over her at night or just save her if she happened to get attacked by zombies.

This entire situation that had been going on for the past week was Claws' own personal Hell. She didn't mind dead things as long as they stayed dead and didn't try to eat her alive! That was when she hated dead things! And it would break her heart and kill her if she ever learned that her dear mate Scar was one of them! She may just die of shock, literally. She would have no reason to go on living if Scar were a zombie. It would crush her spirit too much.

"W-What was that?" Claws began whimpering as the forest suddenly grew darker, even though it was still morning out and not a cloud in the sky to block out the sun. But then Claws realized why it had gotten dark so suddenly. She knew about the legend of Shadow Forest and the Saw Tooth Cave. The ghost that haunted Shadow Forest didn't want anyone getting near her daughter during times of dangers. And since it had suddenly darkened again, Claws figured that the ghost of Daria's mother must think Claws was a threat to Daria! She would have to get out of her, as she remembered how the Alpha male of Daria's old pack had been taken to Hell by the ghost. And Claws didn't want to be taken there, especially before her time.

Claws hadn't even realized that she had set foot in Shadow Forest, because of her fear-fueled running from the zombie wolves, and now she was even more horrified than she had been. She had heard all about what happened here, from Daria, Runt, and others who had been in Shadow Forest, and knew that the forest could come alive because of the ghost, and trap her in here.

Of course, that wouldn't be a bad thing so long as the zombies were trapped on the outside and Claws was trapped on the inside. And surely, Daria would allow Claws into the cave, as they're members of the same pack now. If Daria did that, the ghost would leave Claws alone, surely. Claws wasn't here to hurt Daria, but only Daria and Runt could speak to the ghost like that. She didn't know anyone but Daria and Runt.

Claws' hackles rose up, in fear not aggression, and she tucked her tail between her hind legs when the ghost of Daria's mother appeared over the tree line. The ghost was glowing bright green and just hovering above the trees. It was just the head of the ghost, trailing off like a tail. A tail of air. Even if she already knew who the ghost was, the sight of her still sent a chill down Claws' back. She was nearly frozen with fear.

But it wasn't the ghost that caused her to run. It was the sight of the at least seven zombie wolves that must've been in the forest because the ghost of Daria's mother had trapped Claws in it. And now she was trapped in Shadow Forest with the zombies and a ghost that must think she was in the forest to hurt Daria! The only thing that would save her, from the ghost and the zombies, would be getting inside Daria's cave. Claws knew from listening to Daria and Runt's stories that if Daria allowed someone into the Saw Tooth Cave, then the ghost of her mother wouldn't harm that someone. And it would be impossible for something with the poor agility of the zombies to climb up the rocky hillside that led to the cave. It was made up of rock fragments all the way to the top. Living wolves sometimes had trouble climbing that, so it would be impossible for any zombie to do it.

Claws attempted to one for one of the ways out of Shadow Forest, but it sealed out with thorny vines and bushes before she could leave the first. Claws almost got a face full of thorns but managed to stop in her tracks. She knew that the ghost had done it, but not to keep Claws from escaping. Just to keep more zombies from getting into the forest. She knew that Daria would be safe from the zombies and be able to hunt smaller prey so long as the zombies didn't get in. And the ghost would be able to do that.

Claws turned around, a look of dread and horror coming over her face because of the approaching zombie wolves, to see the ghost of Daria's mother staring at her. The look on the ghost's face seemed to say, "Run, get to Daria's cave. You'll be safe there," even though the ghost didn't and probably couldn't speak to her.

And Daria suddenly appeared at the mouth of the Saw Tooth Cave with a horrified look on her face. Even though she was blind, Daria could sense that something was wrong. She could smell Claws and the zombies. She could hear the moans of the zombies. It all made sense to her, even if she couldn't see anything that was going on only feet away from her cave.

"Run!" Daria yelled. "Run Claws! Get to my cave if you want to be safe! The zombies can't climb up the rocks to reach my cave!"

And Claws took off immediately, running through the part of the forest that she hadn't crossed yet. The ghost of Daria's mother had vanished without Claws realizing it. And there was something else Claws hadn't realized, either. There were zombie wolves near the end of the woods, blocking Claws' only path to the Saw Tooth Cave. And Claws was running at full speed toward the mouth of the woods, so she ended up meeting the zombies because they all arrived there at the same moment.

Claws cursed in a loud voice, as she screamed in terror, and took off in the other direction, seeing no other option. She just hoped that she'd be able to lead the zombies away from the mouth of the forest, then circle back around and get to the Saw Tooth Cave. But her scream had drawn the attention of many more zombies. Her scream had caused the number of zombies to more than double. There was at least eighteen of them now rather than just five. At least three coming from four different openings and one with a broken back crawling toward Claws across the ground. The sound of all eighteen zombie wolves' moans at once gave Claws a headache and even drove her mad.

"Get away!" Claws screamed, seeing no point in being quiet at this point. It was too late for silence, she thought. "Just get away from me!"

Claws was so horrified as she ran that she didn't even care if the forest was moving on its own, probably because of the ghost of Daria's mother trying to keep the zombies away from Claws. It wasn't just shrubs and other plants that were seemingly moving on their own but also sharper sticks and tree branches. Claws jumped over the debris as it moved into her path. But the debris was barely working as barricades that kept the zombies out. And one of them did what they weren't supposed to do.

Claws was running down a path when it happened. A stick that had been stuck in the shrubbery not far off the path got pulled into the path Claws was running along with the shrubs. It stuck in the direction Claws was running from, like a spear. And Claws had thought she'd be able to jump over the sharp, broken stick, but she was wrong.

Claws didn't jump high enough and she ended up landing on the sharp end of the stick, which stabbed through her like her flesh was nothing. She felt it tear through her stomach, then break through the skin out the other side. Claws, still alive but screaming in agony in a piercing tone, slide down the sharp stick until she was laying face first in the shrubs. Most of the stick was poking out the other side of her body, dripping with blood. There was a small piece of her stomach on the tip of the stick.

Daria could sense that Claws had gotten impaled on a stick. And she could sense that Claws was dying, as the zombie wolves came closer to the wolf who was stuck and had no way to escape. Claws knew that she was dying, but still, she was trying to struggle free from the stick by pushing up against it. But she was too late. And Daria found it out when she heard Claws' screams echo through the forest. She heard the sound of flesh ripping and bones crunching as Claws was ripped apart by the zombies. And even though she was blind, Daria could picture the gory scene in her mind. It was something she had never seen for herself, but everything she heard now as Claws was ripped apart was enough for Daria to picture what was happening to the she-wolf.

Claws' screams eventually faded away, as did the sounds of tearing flesh and crunching bones, but Daria's fear did not. The smell of death was strong and it wasn't just the zombies but Claws as well. Daria had picked up the scent of Claws' blood floating through the forest like a macabre mist or fog. The smell of death was hitting Daria's nose stronger than it ever had before now and she couldn't stand it anymore.

So Daria went to the back of the Saw Tooth Cave, where she felt the safest ever since this had begun over a week ago, to cry over Claws' death. And once again, her mother's ghost was floating around her protectively.


	12. Daria and the Saw Tooth Cave

**Chapter 11**

**Daria and the Saw Tooth Cave**

Kate couldn't believe that Humphrey was gone, having lead the zombies away from her and the other Alphas who had gone hunting with her on that day. It had happened at least two days earlier and Humphrey hadn't returned yet. The other survivors were beginning to fear the worst, but they just didn't know if he was dead or alive. Kate didn't want to become a widow—not now, when she needed Humphrey more than ever—and her pups didn't want become fatherless. If they learned that Humphrey was dead, Kate and her pups' lives would never be the same again. They would lose it emotionally and their lives would become a greater hell than it already had.

Kate was at the back of the Alpha den weeping. Eve was trying to console her daughter, but nothing she said or did made Kate feel any better. Stinky wasn't any different. He was over in a different corner of the cave being comforted by his mate, Mica, and his aunt Lilly. But not even Mica could make her mate feel better about what may have happened to his father, her father-in-law. Stinky respected Humphrey more than any other wolf and he would die inside if Humphrey was dead and they found him that way. Stinky had never cried in his life—except for when Princess had told them Runt was dead during the time of war with the rogues, but his little brother had turned out to be alive in the end. Nothing had happened since then to make Stinky cry. Not until Humphrey had gone missing. And Stinky would surely end his suffering himself he ever found out that his father was killed.

Kate fell asleep ten minutes later, after crying and screaming about Humphrey for that entire time. Lilly and Mica were now sleeping, too. They were on either side of Kate.

And while those she-wolves slept, Eve was lecturing Claudette, Stinky, and Runt.

"Listen to me, grandpups," Eve was telling them. "I know you miss your father, but do _not_ go looking for Humphrey now. It's dark out and you can see, yes, but the fact that all three of you are tired doesn't make the chance of you finding Humphrey good. And being tired makes it dangerous for you to travel at now. Now promise me, all three of you, that you won't go looking now. We'll go look for Humphrey in the morning, I promise."

Eve started at them intensely until she got a response out of Claudette, the oldest.

"Yes," Claudette said. "We'll wait until morning comes around to go looking for our father…" Eve noticed the sadness in her granddaughter's voice and felt bad that she had to tell her grandpups that about their father.

"…as much as that hurts us on the inside…" Stinky whimpered.

"Goodnight grandmother," Runt said sadly, as Eve lie down then fell asleep.

But Eve had not noticed how all three of her grandpups had stuck a hind leg behind their rears, the wolf equivalent of what humans did when they took back a promise—crossing two fingers behind their back.

* * *

"Where could we ever start to look for dad?" Claudette asked. Even if they were full-grown adult wolves now, they still called Humphrey "dad" like they always had when they were pups. They had never grown out of that one thing from their puppy days.

"And what about Garth and Princess?" Stinky asked. "Not only would bring dad back make mom feel better, bringing Garth back would make Lilly happy, and bringing Princess back would make our little brother happy." He was thinking about what was best for the entire group. He was the only one who had his mate to be with him at night and felt bad about that. Eve would never see her mate again because Winston was the first known victim of the zombie outbreak. But that had happened before they had truly known that their grandfather's killer was a zombie and not just a badly wounded rogue wolf.

"You want to know what would make me happier than anything?" Runt growled, baring his fangs, and raising his ears and tail.

"What…?" Claudette was almost too afraid to ask because of the tone Runt was speaking in. Runt wasn't normally an angry wolf. No one had seen him act like this since the war with King's pack of rogue wolves many months earlier. It had been just after he and Princess were reunited, after his pack had feared him dead. They had been sick and tired of King and the other rogues for the hell they had gone through when they had enslaved in Banff.

"I wish none of this shit had ever fucking happened!" Runt roared, even though he tried to avoid cursing all together. But he was too angry in this moment to care whether he cursed or not. What did it matter, anyway? His parents didn't hear it, so he didn't care who did. "Our lives had been perfect for almost a year after we finally defeated the rogues. And now this! A world that has gone straight to hell because of fucking zombies!"

"Keep your voice low, Runt," Stinky cautioned in a whisper. "We don't want to draw zombies toward us…"

"You're right," Runt sighed, realizing how he should keep his voice low. He let out a heavy breath as he attempted to calm down. "I know where dad would've gone. There is only one place in Jasper that is safer than the Alpha den is."

"What would that be?" Claudette asked, looking about nervously. She and Stinky were worried about being found by zombies now that Runt had spoken so loudly.

"Shadow Forest," Runt said. "The Saw Tooth Cave. No place in Jasper is safer than Shadow Forest and the Saw Tooth Cave are. That is surely the first place dad would go if he couldn't get back to us. We must find him, for our mom's sake…"

* * *

The pups found the Saw Tooth Cave two hours later. In human time, it was just past eleven o'clock at night now. And it was pitch black out, but that wasn't a problem for Claudette, Stinky, and Runt because they were wolves and wolves could see in the dark with no trouble. The only problem for the three siblings was they were even more exhausted than they had been two hours earlier. They could fall asleep at any moment and that would be bad if they didn't get to the Saw Tooth Cave first.

Runt's ears shot straight up when he swore he could hear a she-wolf crying from inside the Saw Tooth Cave. She was repeatedly crying the names "Claws" and "Floyd" miserably. And they all recognized the she-wolf's voice immediately.

"Daria!" Runt yelped, almost jumping out the ground. "She's in trouble!"

Runt took off immediately and his siblings quickly followed. They all made it up the rocky hillside with no trouble from collapsing rocks and no interference from the ghost of Daria's mother. She remembered Claudette, Stinky, and Runt from when they were pups because of how Runt had helped Daria find a pack that accepted her even if she was blind.

Runt was the first out of the three siblings to reach the inside of the cave and he immediately went over to Daria after doing so.

Runt wrapped his front legs around Daria in a hugging fashion. "Daria," he said urgently. "It's me, Runt! Claudette and Stinky, too!"

"Runt?" Daria gasped. "Oh, I'm glad to hear your voice again…I was afraid you were dead…"

"We heard you screaming," Claudette said.

"Floyd's dead!" Daria screamed. "He turned into one of those things…zombies! I had to…to destroy him…"

"I'm so sorry," Runt said, refusing to release Daria from the hug that seemed to have a bit of a calming effect on her.

"Claws is dead too," Daria whimpered. Her eyes were closed and her face buried in Runt's light gray chest fur. Being close to Runt like this made her feel comfortable because he was the first wolf from the Western Pack she ever knew and her friend. She hadn't been able to make any friends in the Southern Territory before being exiled—before her mother's murder.

"Not Claws, too!" Claudette howled miserably.

"How did you survive without Floyd?!" Stinky yelped in a shocked tone.

"I-I hunted small animals that shared the cave with me," Daria answered in a sad whisper. The deaths of Claws and Floyd were still fresh in her mind, especially Floyd's death. "And I went to the base of the hill to catch a raccoon. I'd gained his trust, but desperate times call for desperate measures…I'm still a bit hungry, though, and I just finished the last of that raccoon."

"Have you seen our dad—Humphrey?" Claudette asked. "I'm sorry…I mean heard him?"

"No," Daria said. She wasn't offended. Most wolves were used to saying "Have you seen" rather than "Have you heard" when it came to questions like that. "Claws is the first and only living wolf I've heard besides you three…"

* * *

Humphrey returned to the Alpha den just as his pups were asking Daria about him. No one was yet aware that Claudette, Stinky, and Runt had left the Alpha den, against Eve's wishes, to look for their father.

"Kate," Humphrey whispered. "Kate, wake up…" He nudged Kate with his nose. That was enough to wake her up.

"H-Humphrey?" Kate yawned, not fully realizing that he had found his way back. She was still a bit sleepy and not thinking straight. But then it hit her and she yelled his name excitedly. "Humphrey!"

And her shout woke all of the other wolves up. But before Lilly, Eve, or Mica had a chance to say anything about Humphrey's return, Mica noticed the three missing wolves.

"They're gone!" Mica screamed. "Claudette, Stinky, and Runt are gone!"

"What?!" Humphrey gasped.

"They must've gone looking for you!" Mica screamed again.


	13. Reba and Janice's Last Day

**Author's note:** For those who were wondering when Reba and Janice died (and how) after it was mentioned in an earlier chapter, you'll get your answer in this chapter when Princess tells what she saw to Garth.

* * *

**Chapter 12:**

**Reba and Janice's Last Day**

Reba and Janice, the vegetarian Omega she-wolves and old friends, were dead. And only one wolf had witnessed their deaths. Princess, the highest-ranking Beta wolf of the United Eastern and Western Wolf Packs, and the mate of Runt had witnessed their deaths. And she was now telling Garth—an Alpha, mate of Lilly, and the other wolf with her—about what she had seen when she'd come across the vegetarians during their final moments of life.

Reba and Janice had been living in an isolated cave somewhere in the Eastern Territory of Jasper around the time of their deaths. They had been trying to avoid becoming a meal for the zombies until just a day before their deaths. Reba's health had severely declined because of the brown recluse spider bite she had suffered a week-and-a-half earlier. The wound resulting because of the spider's toxic venom had greatly increased in size. A massive chunk of her back's flesh had rotted away because of the venom. It had caused necrosis, a condition of unplanned and violent death of cells. The flesh around the gash in her back was dead and black with rot as well.

And Reba was in the worst pain of her life. She had never felt this bad of a pain in her life until now and she wished that it would just end, even if that meant she died. Not just the pain going away with time, either. This pain was so bad that she would rather take her own life just to end than pain rather than going on living and suffering because of it. Reba wasn't the kind of wolf who could stand such a hellish pain, no matter what Janice attempted to do in hopes of relieving it. But they both doubted that even Eve could do anything to relieve the pain caused because of that one spider bite…

"Oh, kill me!" Reba screamed. Fuck! Just fucking kill me!"

"Quiet, Reba," Janice hissed. "Do you want to draw those zombies to us?!"

"Just let them come and tear me apart!" Reba snarled. "You may survive this, but I won't! You know what happens to the wounded in those horror stories we always told and listened to around fires! The wounded don't survive in those stories—they're always the first to die! And even if these zombies don't kill me, I'll because of this spider bite! It's making me sick!"

Janice couldn't believe what she was hearing and that Reba was acting like this because she was usually a very optimistic wolf. They both were. Yet, at the same time, Janice couldn't blame her friend for being pessimistic in a world that had gone to hell.

"My life went to hell when that spider bit me," Reba said bitterly. Janice almost gasped. If she hadn't known any better, Janice would've sworn that Reba had read her mind. But then Janice realized how she'd made the mistake of speaking some of her thoughts aloud rather than just thinking them. "I don't even want to live in a world like this—one that is overrun with zombies."

"Don't say that!" Janice yelped. "We can both make it out of this alive! We just need to be careful and avoid the zombies!"

"It's too late for me, Janice," Reba said. Not only was her tone of voice dark, her facial expression and body language were as well. "All because of one little fucking spider! If we do travel again before I die, I'll go with you until I can't anymore. You know that I am too sick to keep going with you for much longer. There is too much disease in my body for you or anyone to treat me now…"

Janice started weeping. Tears flowed down her brown face. Her best and oldest friend, whom she had lived with since they had become orphans in Banff before King gone rogue with other Eastern wolves, was telling her that their time together would be ending before it should. And it would be soon. No wolf ever wanted to be told that she would be losing her best friend—especially from her best friend! It was even worse for Janice because it was her best friend telling her this. Reba was predicting her own death and it broke Janice's heart even more than just knowing that Reba would die did on its own.

"W-What will I do without you?" Janice cried. "I've known you since we were pups…I've known you longer and better than anyone else…"

"You'll get along fine without me," Reba told Janice, just trying to make her feel a bit better about the whole situation. "It will be hard for you, yes, but you must be strong, old friend, for your safe. Just because I won't live much longer doesn't mean that I don't want you live for as long as possible or even survive this to the very end, which I hope you do. But just know this: if I die, I will always be with you in sp…"

Reba's voice cracked and that put Janice on high alert. The sound Reba made when her voice cracked sent a chill down Janice's spine and that caused her hackles, ears, and tail to all rise up at once. Both of them seemed worried and terrified at the same time. Reba felt a sudden and horrible pain in her throat, as well as her chest. It was the disease, caused because of the spider's venom and her rotting flesh. It must've finally spread to the part of her nervous system that controlled her ability to speak and to her heart. She felt like she was having a heart attack, even though she knew better.

And that wasn't the only thing to happen to Reba so suddenly in this moment. Just as quickly as she had lost her voice, the light brown she-wolf collapsed to the ground against her own will. Janice thought Reba had only gone into a coma but that thought left her mind quickly. Janice screamed in horror, bloodcurdlingly, when Reba began convulsing. Reba choked and gagged as she regurgitated a dark red blood. It came out in chunks, but that was just the food she had eaten. Regardless, those dark red bloody chunks of food made Janice feel even sicker than the blood itself did.

Janice was lost for words as she could only watch Reba had a violent seizure and puke up more of her dark red blood. The dark red color, rather than a brighter red, was a sign that the disease that had been destroying her body had spread to her blood. And that meant Reba was at the end of her life now, not later like she had said it might be. When an infection reached someone's blood, which meant they were done for.

Janice closed her eyes in grief, unable to stand this sickening and heart breaking sight any longer, just before hearing a loud gasp from Reba, then a gagging sound, and a last breath. That breath faded away quickly, then Janice heard a faint thud. She knew it was Reba's head collapse to the ground as she died.

Janice opened her eyes and began bawling with grief when she saw that Reba was dead. Her first instinct was to lie over her friend's body and just cry, but she knew that would put her at risk of catching whatever disease it was that had killed Reba. So she just stayed away and grieved Reba.

But, just as quickly as Reba had died, her body began shaking and then she sat up, moaning incoherently. Janice felt a massive chill go throughout her entire body. She knew that Reba had become one of them…one of the zombies. A now undead Reba noticed her friend and began shambling toward her. Janice begged and pleaded for Reba, even if she was a zombie now, to stop, but Reba's undead mind would no longer be responsive to commands from the living. Reba screamed and…

* * *

"I saw Janice get ripped to pieces," Princess concluded, with a sick expression on her face as she looked at Garth. "I barely made it out there when Janice came after me…"

"You weren't bitten, were you?" Garth asked her, starting to back away from Princess.

"If I were bitten, would I be here now and telling you what happened to Reba and Janice?" Princess replied bitterly.

"No," Garth said. He felt a bit foolish now. "What are we going to do now?" He looked around. They were in the middle of the field where he and Lilly had lived together before this had happened.

"Try and find Kate's family," Princess said, "or get to the Saw Tooth Cave. We'll be safe either way, but we can't stay here in this field."

"What?" Garth gasped. "This place offers perfect cover for the both of us!"

"You damn fool," Princess snapped and cuffed him across the head. "It may provide cover, but it's far from perfect. A zombie on a hill could see us. And what if one came through the grass right now? That zombie's moan would attract other zombies!"

"Then where can we go?"

"Shadow Forest," she said. "The Saw Tooth Cave is the only place in all of Jasper that is perfectly safe from the zombies…" She paused. "We're leaving now, Garth. If we do, we can get there before nightfall. I just hope Daria is alright…"


	14. Hell in Shadow Forest

**Author's note:** The beginning of this chapter may seem strange, but the idea came to me after I talked to a friend on Skype about whether Daria would ever marry and have pups. When we talked about if she'd ever mate, he said "She'd probably want to know the feeling," hence why I have her ask what she will in this chapter. I have it intended to be asked in the most serious way possible, not Daria acting strange or anything.

* * *

**Chapter 13:**

**Hell in Shadow Forest**

While Claudette and Stinky were sleeping at the back of the Saw Tooth Cave, Daria and Runt were talking to each other at the mouth of the cave. Daria couldn't see Runt but she could picture, in her mind, what he must look like as an adult. She had done the same with Runt when he had been a pup, imagining how cute he must have been back then. But now that Runt was an adult, Daria was trying to imagine how handsome her first true friend must look like. Just thinking about what Runt could possibly look like made Daria wish that she hadn't been born blind. Daria knew that Runt was married to a she-wolf called Princess. She thought about how lucky this "Princess" was to have married a wolf whom Daria assumed was one of the most handsome male wolves in Jasper, if not the most handsome one.

"Tell me, Runt," Daria was saying, since neither of them wanted to talk about the zombie situation. "What is it like having a mate who loves you and having pups with that mate?" Daria wasn't married, nor had she yet found a wolf whom she wanted to marry and have pups with. Nor had she ever mated, so she didn't know the pleasure of sex, unlike Runt, who had mated with Princess. Runt had been that wolf, the one she had been in love with, at one point, but he'd fallen in love with Princess (and now had pups with her) before Daria had been able to muster enough bravery to ask Runt to marry him. She wasn't jealous—that wasn't the kind of wolf Daria was—but regretted not telling Runt about her feelings earlier. She didn't want to tell him now that he was married.

Runt wasn't really sure how to explain what being a husband and a father felt like. It wasn't really something that could be described with words—it could only be experienced by actually marrying, mating, and then having pups for herself. But that may not happen given the situation at hand.

"Uh…" Runt stammered, trying to put his thoughts and experiences from being married to Princess into words so he could at least try to answer his old friend's question. But he managed to finally tell Daria that having pups and a mate was probably the best thing that could ever happen to a wolf. He also said that there was probably nothing more exciting and better than the day someone becomes a mother or a father. "I just wish that Princess was here. I hate not knowing if she is alive or not…and I hate being away from my mate when we're mourning the deaths of our three children…And she would be better at explaining this than I am and doing it without sounding like a fool."

"Runt," Daria said, since she had already consoled Runt about the death of his pups earlier, "I don't think you sound like a fool. That was the kind of answer I'd expected from a wolf like you. But I do have one more question…" She began to hesitate about asking it, as it felt awkward for her just to think it.

"Go ahead and ask," Runt urged her on.

"It's just a strange question…" Daria said nervously. Her shy personality was showing itself now. She may have gotten over some of her shyness since joining the United Pack about a year earlier, but she was still a bit shy when it came to talking to wolves. Even Runt and he was the wolf whom she'd known longer than any, basically. She hadn't really gotten to know her parents or siblings before being exiled from the Southern Pack.

"Alright…" Daria said in the same uncertain tone. "What does it feel like to have sex?" Daria was only asking this because she had no mate and had never mated with another wolf before, unlike Runt. He had mated with Princess, but their three children—Terra, Danny, and Sam—were dead, killed by the zombies over a week ago. And because of this zombie outbreak, Daria may never learn the feelings that come with getting married, mating, and then raising pups. The only surviving male wolves—Humphrey, Runt, Stinky, and Garth—possibly still had their mates. Kate, Princess, Mica, and Lilly were all possibly still alive, so mating with them to prevent wolves from being extinct in Jasper was out of the question until she knew otherwise. But it may come to those females reproducing of they all live to find another place that is free of zombies and safe from the risk of them.

Runt's jaw hit the cave floor—not in excitement as when he had found out Princess would perform oral sex on him—but in shock and disbelief. Not even Princess, his mate, had ever asked him what mating felt like before they had mated in Banff. Runt remembered how Princess had planned about how he'd "smelled like sex and another female" before she'd performed oral sex on him back during his adolescence. That was because he had just been ridden by a female Alpha from the Eastern Pack and hadn't had a chance to bathe the scent away. But that had been a one-time thing with a female around his age who hadn't been in heat, like Princess had been, but had wanted to know the feeling. And Princess' heat had been why they'd talked about mating in a bush back then.

In a stunned voice, Runt finally managed to ask, because he was confused, "You aren't asking me to mate with you, are you…?"

"No!" Daria gasped, even though she understood why Runt had misunderstood the purpose of her question. It was a serious question, not her being perverted. She wasn't that kind of wolf, but wanted to know what mating felt like since she may never have the chance of experiencing the pleasure of mating for herself now that most of the male wolves in Jasper were dead and she'd never found a mate before that happened. "I know you're married to Princess and I'd never mate with anyone who is married—I don't believe in cheating on one's mate. Wolves mate for life and it should always be that way until one of the spouses dies. I just wanted you to describe what it feels like is all. I would never risk getting pregnant during a time like this, even if you didn't have a mate, Runt."

Runt shook his head as if to clear it of his confusion and to forget about that misunderstanding. He was blushing under his gray fur because of how he had thought Daria had asked him to mate with her, while she had really only wanted him to tell her what it felt like as he had mated already.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have said that."

"Don't be," Daria said with a smile, a smile just to show that she wasn't angry with him. Daria wasn't the kind of wolf who got angry, at least not easily. She had only gotten angry once in her life and that was when she had confronted her mother's killer a year earlier.

"Well, I don't have any problem with telling you that now that I'm not confused," Runt said in a serious tone. "Well…how should I put this? Mating feels…"

"Claws," Daria interrupted.

"What?" Runt asked, confused once again.

"I can hear and smell Claws…undead…shambling around at the bottom of the hill," she told him. "Can you go and see for me?"

Runt walked over to the cliff and looked down the broken hillside. Sure enough, he saw her. An undead Claws was shambling about down there, moaning like all of the other zombies did. Runt could see, even from the distance he was at, that Claws was half-eaten, covered in blood, with some of her internal organs exposed through the holes in her body that a had were where flesh had been ripped off of her body. And Runt could see the hole in Claws' body where the stick had stabbed out of it, after she had been impaled on it.

"She's there," Runt told Daria. "And Claws isn't alone. There are at least thirty zombies all together."

"What?!" Daria gasped, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"They can't reach us," he went on, "but Claudette, Stinky, and I won't be able to safely hunt for as long as these zombies are there. I have to do something…"

"What are you saying?" Daria asked, stunned.

"I'll lead them away, then swim up the river to get back here so the zombies won't be able to track me back to Shadow Forest," Runt explained.

"That's suicide!" Daria yelped.

"You're right, but it has to be done, Daria," he told her. "I won't get hurt, I promise."

"Runt, come back!" Daria screamed as her oldest friend zigzagged down the broken hillside. And her screaming woke Claudette and Stinky up.

"What the hell is he doing?!" Stinky yelped as he saw his brother run at the small horde of thirty zombies, barking, yelping, and shouting to draw their attention. And as he ran past them, the entire horde followed Runt. They wouldn't have done that had they known there were living wolves in the Saw Tooth Cave.

"He's leading the horde away!" Daria explained, now failing to keep her composure. "H-He said he wouldn't get hurt but look at how many of them there are!"

"RUNT!" Claudette screamed as her little brother vanished into Shadow Forest, with the horde of thirty zombie wolves shambling after him. They soon disappeared into the forest as well.

And as long as they heard Runt shouting and barking at the horde, Daria, Claudette, and Stinky knew that Runt was alive. But Runt's voice soon faded away as he got out of their hearing range and they began to fear the worst.

* * *

Claudette was weeping. And nothing Daria or Stinky did or said could make her feel better. She feared that Runt had been killed by the zombies as he hadn't returned by almost an hour later. It hadn't taken Runt that long to get out of their hearing range, so why was it taking him so long to get back? That was a sign to them that something had gone horribly wrong and he wouldn't be returning. Or at least not without a bite or scratch those zombies.

In the moment Daria was console a loudly weeping Claudette, Stinky swore that he could see a gray wolf running across the field. Not a zombie was in sight and he couldn't hear their moans. Runt must've taken them further away than they had thought he would. And he was covered in blood around his facial area, but they couldn't see any wounds on Runt's body, which was a relief.

And Runt was back to the hill in a matter of only five minutes. When he finally made it back into the Saw Tooth Cave, however, he collapsed. Runt was bleeding from a gash in his throat that Daria, Claudette, and Stinky hadn't noticed from a distance. It was a bite. And Runt's throat had been ripped open from the middle to where his jugular was located. How could Runt have survived with a wounded jugular vein long enough to get back to them? That's what they were all wondering, as those stood over Runt, frozen with shock. He must've wanted to die with them and not all alone in the forest. Runt's body wouldn't be eaten by the zombies or other scavengers here.

Daria was applying pressure to the wound on Runt's neck, even though she couldn't see, but Claudette told Daria to stop.

In tears, Claudette told her, "We can't do anything for him." She and Stinky were holding each other in grief as Runt's life slipped away. "I-It's a fatal wound…he won't live."

"No, Runt," Daria whimpered, as she wrapped her front legs around Runt. He bled all over her chest as he laid his head against it, but she didn't care. "You can't die…"

Runt coughed up blood when he tried to speak. "I'm bitten…by a zombie…" He spit blood onto Daria's chest, but she didn't even react. "…and my sister is right…there's nothing that can be done for me…my jugular is slashed…"

"No, Runt," Daria cried again. "You can't die…not now…what will I do without you?"

"Claudette and Stinky will take good care of you," Runt said. Then he added, "I love you…Daria…" And those were Runt's last words before he died in Daria's legs, his head falling limp as life left his body.

Daria closed Runt's eyes with her left paw, then told him, "I love…you too…" She closed her eyes as well. "…and I'll always miss you…"

"We need to get back to our parents' den before anything else bad happens to us," Stinky said sadly, with tears flowing from his eyes. "There is too much of a zombie risk here…"


	15. A Family's Search

**Chapter 14**

**A Family's Search**

"Oh, where could they have gone?!" Kate wailed miserably as she, Humphrey, Eve, and Mica searched for Claudette, Stinky, and Runt. They had no idea that the three siblings had left the Alpha den to go look for Humphrey, only to get lost far away from the den, and end up with Daria. And they also had no idea that Runt was dead, having sacrificed himself so the zombies wouldn't come back to Shadow Forest.

"They went looking for me," Humphrey said sadly, as he ran by Kate's side. They didn't care that it was raining. They just wanted to find their children before something bad happened to any of them. But they had no idea that something bad had already happened to the youngest of the three. "Oh, I never should have led the zombies away! Our pups never would've run off if I hadn't gotten lost! It's all my fault!" Humphrey's ears fell back in sadness and guilt.

"It's not your fault!" Kate yelped. She was in tears because she didn't know if her pups could last out there, even if they were adults and two of them were Alphas. And that the third was married to a former rogue. Princess may have trained Runt to be like an Alpha, but could even the rogues from Banff survive something like a zombie outbreak? Zombies were something that none of them had ever dealt with before, so could they really survive this even if they moved slower than anything else Kate could think of? It was the slowness of the zombies that made them so deadly. One thought they could easily get away from something so slow, only to be caught by more of them that happened to be coming from the other direction. Kate remembered how that was why Nars, the father of Fleet and Magril, had died over a week earlier. He had gotten overconfident and thought he could get away from the zombies that had been following him, only to run into another group of them that had been shambling from the other direction.

"Then whose fault is it?" Humphrey snapped. "I'll say it again: if I hadn't lead those damn zombies away…they wouldn't have left den to go looking for me! If they die, I'll never forgive myself…"

"Oh, Humphrey," Kate cried. "You couldn't have known that they would go looking for you."

"They always ran off when they were young! Remember how Runt kept going to see Daria when we told him to forget about Shadow Forest?" Humphrey cried. "I should've expected that they would do the same now for their father!"

"No," Eve interrupted. "Neither of you are to blame. I told them not to go looking for you, that we all would in the morning. And me telling them that has to be what provoked them to go looking a few nights ago! If you want to blame anyone, Humphrey, blame me. But don't blame yourself for something you didn't provoke."

"When did you tell them that?" Mica asked, wiping away tears. They were shed for her mate, Stinky, even though she was also concerned about Claudette and Runt. She wasn't selfish—it hurt her to fear that all three of them could be dead, bitten, or in danger. Stinky had been her mate for years and the other two had become good friends of hers immediately after her marriage to Stinky. Mica was like Daria, a wolf who left the Southern Pack due to a few cruel wolves.

"I told them not to go looking for their father at night on the night after he'd gone missing," Eve told her granddaughter-in-law. "But they didn't listen, as usual! And I'm not mad at them, but at myself for even bringing that up! They wouldn't have gone looking for you, Humphrey, and gotten themselves lost, if I hadn't mentioned anything! I'm a fool for even saying that…I should've known they wouldn't list when they're told not to do something."

"Where could they have even gone?" Mica sniffed sadly. "There isn't anywhere else in Jasper that is safe, besides the Alpha den, is there?"

"Shadow Forest," Kate said. "The Saw Tooth Cave, to be more specific. If Daria is alive, that's where she would go during any time of trouble. And I'm sure that is where any other survivor would attempt going because of the hill outside it. Because of all those broken up rocks, no zombie has a chance of getting into the Saw Tooth Cave. They aren't agile enough to get past even the first rocks at the bottom of that hill. I've seen drunken wolves that can walk a line straighter than zombies can."

"Will we ever see them again?" Mica whimpered. She hated being away from her mate, especially when she could be pregnant after an encounter she'd had with Stinky after eating too many fermented berries than she could handle without getting drunk. Instinct hadn't told her, though, whether she was pregnant or not yet. She had been so drunk on fermented berries then that she couldn't even remember if she'd been in heat or not then. She hoped that she hadn't been in heat then because this was the worst time to give birth and raise pups!

"We'll have to go to Shadow Forest and find the Saw Tooth Cave," Kate said, "if we want any hope of seeing them again. But not tonight. Not only is it raining now, we're all exhausted from spending the entire day looking for them…we should really get back to the den and sleeping. We must regain our strength if we're going to travel to Shadow Forest to find Claudette, Stinky, and Runt."

Mica looked across Jasper, from the hillside the wolves had stopped at, in the direction of Shadow Forest. She could see the forest and the Saw Tooth Cave from here. _Are they really there? Are they even alive?_

"Come along, Mica," Humphrey whispered. "We shouldn't stay out in the rain any longer. We could get sick."

"I know," Mica whispered back sadly. She turned around and went into the Alpha den with her head low to the ground, thinking about Stinky and his siblings. She had a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was about Runt, but she had no idea what it could be.

And that feeling hadn't left Mica by the time she fell asleep between Kate and Humphrey.


	16. A Blind Wolf's Grieving Howls

**Chapter 15:**

**A Blind Wolf's Grieving Howls**

Claudette and Stinky watched from the center of the Saw Tooth Cave as Daria walked to the edge of the rock that jutted out of the cave. Although all three of them were grieving Runt, who had basically sacrificed himself for their own safety, Daria was probably the wolf who had been hit the hardest by Runt's death. It wasn't necessarily that she was closer to Runt than his own siblings were—Daria knew that was impossible—but because Runt had died held in her arms…rather, her front legs, as she was a wolf.

"I can't imagine what it must've been…" Claudette stopped to whimper. She couldn't bear to think about watching her little brother die, nor could Stinky. "…like for her to go through Runt dying in her grasp…Runt is her first true friend…"

"And our little brother," Stinky mourned. "What will we tell our parents and the others if we ever see them again?"

"I don't know," Claudette cried. "I can't imagine having to tell our own parents that our brother died and we weren't able to protect him…"

"I can't imagine what Daria is going through," Stinky said in a said whisper. "He died in her grasp…I would die inside if it had been me…"

"I died inside and I wasn't the one holding Runt when he died…" Claudette couldn't bear to finish her sentence. She closed her eyes then felt Stinky grab her with his front legs. She knew he was hugging her—that they were hugging each other—but this normally comforting act did nothing to make Claudette and Stinky feel better. Nothing would make them feel better about Runt being dead—ever. They had buried him, yes, and destroyed his brain—even if it had broken Stinky's spirit to crush his own brother's skull with a rock—but they didn't feel better even knowing that Runt wouldn't turn into what had killed him. Claudette probably would kill over if she ever encountered an undead form of any of her relatives.

As they mourned Runt, Daria tipped her head up at the moon, even though she couldn't see it, and started howling sadly. Claudette and Stinky hadn't know that Daria could howl so well, even if it wasn't a howl they were happy to hear. They wish they'd heard her howl at The Moonlight Howls, but Daria had never gone to them. This howl wasn't happy like what they'd wanted to hear for the first time, but the saddest howl they'd ever heard in their lives. It broke their hearts and made them feel even sadder about Runt.

_Take my hand, let's go somewhere we can rest our souls._

_We'll sit where it's warm._

_You say, "Look, we're here alone."_

_I was running in circles; I hurt myself just to find my purpose._

_Everything is so worthless, I don't deserve this._

_But to me, you are perfect._

_I'm scattered through this life._

_If this is life, I'll say good-bye._

_He's gone like an angel._

_With wings, let me burn tonight!_

_I was running in circles; I hurt myself just to find my purpose._

_Everything is so worthless, I don't deserve this._

_But to me, you are perfect._

_I was running in circles; I hurt myself just to find my purpose._

_Everything is so worthless, I don't deserve this._

_But to me, you are perfect._

_I've gone away, seen better times in yesterday._

_It's hard to say that everything will be okay!_

_I've gone away, seen better times in yesterday!_

_It's hard to say that everything will be okay._

Daria howled this sad song until she felt that the clouds had covered up the full moon, which they had, and then she went back over to where Claudette and Stinky were still holding each other. They were in tears, as well. Daria was crying even more now that she had howled that song.

"I'm sorry about your brother," Daria said. But Claudette and Stinky didn't want to talk right now, as they held each other in grief.

But all three of them knew that Runt had gone to Heaven after dying in Daria's grasp and that was enough to keep them comfortable. They knew that Runt was in a better place now and the three grieving wolves wouldn't want anything else for him after his life had ended.

* * *

**Author's note:** This song is "Circles" by Hollywood Undead. I was thinking about all of the sad songs I've heard and I thought this would be the best choice of a sad song for a chapter like this. Look the song up on YouTube if you want to hear it.


	17. Two Alphas' New Home

**Chapter 16:**

**Two Alphas' New Home**

Princess and Garth were now running through the Western Pack's Territory trying to find a place in the field there to sleep safely for the night. It was the same grassy field where Lilly and Garth had lived together before most of the wolves in Jasper had been killed off by the zombies.

Garth was leading Princess to the area in the field where he had lived with his mate, Lilly, before being separated from her. It was in the middle of the massive field, so it offered better protection than any other part of the field did. And not to mention it was in a clearing, so there would be more visibility for both wolves. And it would also provide plenty of room for Princess and Garth to sleeping away from each other. They'd never sleep near or with another wolf who wasn't their mates unless their lives depended on it. But Princess didn't know that Runt was dead—killed by the zombies.

"We're finally there," Garth told Princess a few minutes later. While Princess went to a large and high mound of soil, Garth went to a spot on the lower ground. There was a bed of grass. It was large enough for just two wolves and that's the number of imprints there were. One imprint of a smaller female wolf on the left side and the imprint of a larger male wolf on the right side. This was obviously where Lilly and Garth had slept at night.

_And probably fucked_, Princess thought. That thought made Princess want to avoid sleeping on that grass. She had no idea what Lilly and Garth had done on that grass bed besides sleep.

"This dirt mound makes for a good spot for us to keep watch from," Princess said to Garth as he sniffed the smaller imprint in the grass bed. He sniffed it so intensely that Princess could hear it. "What are you doing?" she asked him, with a confused look on her face.

"I haven't seen Lilly for over a week," Garth said, with some sadness in his voice. "I don't even remember her scent…"

"And I haven't seen Runt for just as long," Princess said sadly. In the pit of her stomach, she had a feeling that something bad had happened to Runt. But she couldn't get an idea of what that bad thing could possibly be.

"We don't even know if our mates are dead or alive…" Garth whimpered. "This is Hell!"

"Garth, this entire world has gone to Hell," Princess growled. "I don't even know if I want to go on living anymore! If Runt isn't alive, I may just end my own fucking life the moment I find out he's dead!"

"Princess!" Garth gasped. "Don't say that!"

"Why not?" she growled again. "If Runt is dead, I have no one left! Terra, Danny, and Sam—I saw those fucking zombies tear my only children to pieces! Runt is all I have left and I don't even know for sure if he's alive or not!" Princess broke down in that moment and started wailing as tears flowed down her face. "RUNT!" she screamed her mate's name, as if calling him would make Runt come to her.

"Runt would want you to go on living even if he died," Garth said, attempting to console Princess. "He wouldn't want you to die just because he did…he loves you too much to want that…"

When Garth attempted to hug Princess, as best as a wolf could do such, the already angry look on her face intensified so severely that Garth whimpered and backed off before she had a chance to say anything. Garth had the best intentions, but she didn't want to hear any of it.

"Just shut up, Garth," Princess snarled. "I need to be alone for a while…" And then Princess turned tail and ran through the tall grass, bawling her eyes out. Garth was shocked.

"Come back, Princess!" Garth yelled. "It's not safe to go out there alone!"

"Go fuck yourself!" Princess roared as she ran through the tall grass in the other direction. "Fuck you, Garth, and fuck this entire world!"

"Princess!" Garth yelled again, then ran after her at full speed. And, being an Alpha, that was rather fast. But Princess was formerly an Alpha from the rogue pack in Banff, from King's back and could easily outrun Garth. And for following her, Princess told Garth, again, to go fuck himself.

But Garth couldn't let a mentally unstable wolf like Princess go out there alone. She would die if she were all alone. The zombies would kill Princess, just like they had killed Claws, if she was all alone in this hellish word.

And Garth wouldn't allow that to happen to Princess, so he kept on following her despite all of the insults Princess kept screaming at him. He didn't care. Being called a "motherfucker" was better than letting Princess die.

Garth wouldn't stop until he caught up with Princess and got her back to the clearing in the field.

Then a dark thought hit him: would he be able to convince her to come back?


	18. An Orphaned Omega

**Chapter 17**

**An Orphaned Omega**

Gemma was once the adopted daughter of Reba, Janice, and Humphrey's old friend Shakey. But they were all dead, meaning that Gemma was an orphan—again. She had come from the Western Pack and had been adopted by the vegetarians and Shakey after her parents died. But now, there was no one left to roise Gemma—that she knew of anyway. She figured everyone else was dead as she hadn't seen another living wolf in over a week. Gemma may be an adult wolf, but she wanted to be with older wolves. She didn't have the experience that anyone from the generation, such as Kate and Humphrey, before her had. Even her deceased adoptive parents Reba and Janice had more experience than Gemma did.

But, more than anything, Gemma wanted to survive long enough to find Alphas. Kate in particular. There wasn't an Alpha in all of Jasper who knew more about survival than Kate did. If it had ever come to it, Kate and any of the wolves with her would be the last survivors because of the survival skills she had. And any wolves with Kate would be the least likely to die or to be killed by the zombies.

This lone female wolf had been all alone since most of the living wolves had been killed by the undead ones. And Gemma had no idea how she, an Omega with no knowledge of survival, was still alive. Like Princess, she remembered seeing the zombies tear Terra, Danny, and Sam (the pups of Princess and Runt) to pieces. And because Sam was dead, that made Gemma a widow. A widowed orphan. She had no mate and no parents, adoptive or biological.

But Gemma still wanted to live even if she was a widowed orphan now. Gemma feared death more than she feared anything. She always had feared death and now that her chance of dying was at its great, Gemma was experiencing her own personal Hell. This entire world had gone from the life she'd always wanted—having a mate and parents who loved her—to Hell—her loving mate and parents being dead, torn to pieces by undead wolves. And she was all alone, just trying to stay alive in a national park park overrun with those undead wolves. For the past eleven days, Gemma had stayed alive, but had also seen zombies no matter where she went in the Eastern or Western Territory. Gemma just knew that she'd never find a place place to go anywhere in this park of the park.

There was truly only one place in Jasper Park that was say, besides the park rangers' station or any other medium to large building, was the Saw Tooth Cave, but that was in Shadow Forest. She was no where near Shadow Forest. That was on the other side of Jasper Park. Gemma was in the Western Territory, while the Saw Tooth Cave was located at the other end of Jasper Park. Gemma knew that her best chance at mobile survival was to find Kate, but her best chance at stationary survival would be to make it to the Saw Tooth Cave. She knew all about the hill made of broken-up rocks from listening to Runt's tale about the forest and how he'd saved Daria's life as a pup.

Either Gemma's hackles, ears, or tail rose whenever she heard any noise that she considered unfamiliar. And one noise that she considered _too_ familiar—the spine-chilling moans of the undead. No matter where Gemma went, she could still hear that damn moaning. Gemma still feared death more than anything else and the zombies' moaning reminded the lone she-wolf of death more than even the thought of death itself did.

Gemma was running across the Western Territory faster than she had ever run in her life. Gemma had first intended to find the Alpha den where Kate's family lived, but she'd turned around a day ago to make a run for the Saw Tooth Cave instead. Gemma didn't want to focus on mobile survival anymore—she was sick of mobile survival after eleven days of it! If she made it to the Saw Tooth Cave, then could could just focus entirely on stationary survival, whether anyone was there or not. She hoped that at least Daria was there. Gemma would hate to be alone, even if she was next to perfectly safe inside the Saw Tooth Cave. And living in the Saw Tooth Cave would be the best place for Gemma to survive in one spot. She would stock up on much as food as possible at one time after a day of rest. She wouldn't be hungry by the time she got there because she always made sure she ate whenever the feeling of hungry came over her. And even if most of the larger animals, such as caribou, seemed to have either been all killed or fled the area, there was still a good abundance of smaller prey such as squirrels and chipmunks. Gemma would make it to the Saw Tooth Cave before nightfall if she didn't have to deal with any more distractions.

But now, Gemma had just encountered the worst kind of distraction possible. A horde of the undead wolves appearing suddenly from all directions. And there were at least fifty of them, give or take a few. Gemma only saw a small gap in the enclosing horde as she ran for her life. They'd appeared so suddenly that the horde had had a chance to nearly close in on Gemma entirely. She was running for that gap, screaming her head off in terror. She didn't want to die. Not like this and not after she had survived for eleven days while possibly every other wolf in Jasper had died!

Gemma almost barked triumphantly when she thought she would make it through that gap unharmed. But she swallowed her bark and forget about it when she felt the claws of an undead wolf tearing through the flesh of her hindquarters. She screamed not only because of how she knew she was infected with the virus that turned wolves into zombies, but also because of how that small gap in the horde closed in on Gemma just when she ran through it.

Gemma screamed in a louder and more agonizing voice than she ever had in the past eleven. days. She felt the claws and the teeth of that undead horde tearing into her from all directions except for in front of her. She felt her flesh being pulled from her body in small to large strips of bloody and raw meat. The tearing of her flesh was so great that her bones were revealed as she screamed, begging for her life to end just so she didn't have to suffer through that hellish pain of being mutilated anymore. And Gemma finally died, just before the zombies pulled her body into a few different pieces, pulling the medium to large-sized fragments in at least three different directions. Gemma's guts, blood, and skeleton fell out of her ripped apart flesh into a steaming pile that wreaked of an order of death. The zombies began ravenously consuming her ripped apart flesh and her spilled out guts.

The entire area wreaked of the order of the one thing that Gemma had feared more than anything.

And death was what Gemma had just met, after surviving for almost a dozen days.

* * *

**Author's note:** If anyone asks how I wrote two chapters so quickly, I wrote these both in my notebook last night. I typically do that with stories I really want to get written quickly. I may post at least one, if not two, more chapters today. But who knows right now.


	19. Leaving the Alpha Den

**Chapter 18:  
Leaving the Alpha den**

"We have to go find our pups," Kate said to the group.

And that announcement caused everyone to gasp, even Humphrey. It was morning out, yes, but was it really safe for them to travel ever? Humphrey remembered how things had gone wrong on a simple hunt—he had to lead the zombies away and hadn't returned until two days later. And in that time he had been gone, Humphrey found Claws wandering around as a zombie.

"They're alive, yes," Eve said, "but what use will we be of them if we aren't?"

"If we're careful," Kate said slowly, "we'll find them."

"Do you even know where Claudette, Stinky, and Runt could've gone?" Mica asked. She was still sad about them having gone missing.

"Just thinking about Runt what had been talking about," Humphrey said, "I can imagine that they went to the Saw Tooth Cave after going too far away to return to this den before nightfall. They knew that the Saw Tooth Cave would be safe from these zombies, so why would they go anywhere else?"

"Could they have even made it that far?" Mica whimpered, wiping away her tears.

"Of course they could," Kate said. "Claudette and Stinky are Alphas—and Runt, he may as well be an Alpha because of his mate. All three of them could easily survive out there.

"Claws didn't," Humphrey told them. This was the first time he'd ever said about to them about seeing an undead Claws when he'd been near Shadow Forest. "I saw her near Shadow Forest…I led the zombies that far away."

"Claws is dead?!" Mica screamed. "If she died, then what's to say none of us will die?!"

"She had been impaled on a tree branch," Humphrey told her. "I could tell by the hole in her back…that's the only reason they got Claws, I'm sure…she's too smart of a wolf to get caught by something that moves so slow."

"We're leaving now?" Mica whimpered. She was afraid to leave the Alpha den, even if she was with smart wolves who could protect her. Learning that Claws was dead put fear in Mica's heart—she didn't want to leave this cave ever, even if she had a hundred living wolves with her. Even if Claws wasn't the strongest wolf out there, knowing that she was dead really lowered Mica's morale.

"Yes, Mica," Kate said. She brushed her daughter-in-law across the face gently with her tail, hoping that would almost daughter her down. "You'll be fine. I won't let anything happen to you."

"Neither will I," Humphrey said.

"Nor will I," Lilly and Eve said together.

"I won't let anything happen to any of you," Kate said. "I would rather die than see any of you get bitten by the zombies. We've already lost too many friends and family to these zombies. If my death would keep anyone else from dying, then it would be worth it in my eyes."

"What would I do without you?" Humphrey asked her. That statement shocked him. "It almost killed me on the inside when we all thought you were dead all those years ago…I don't want to ever lose you, Kate. I don't want to lose any of you or Claudette, Stinky, and Runt…"

"I would rather lose my own life than any of you," Kate said. And to Humphrey, it sounded like she said in a dark tone. "Knowing that all of you survive is more important to me than if I live or not."

"And all of you are more important to me than anything else," Humphrey said. "You too, Kate. Please, Kate, don't do anything that gets you killed. I don't want to lose you. I almost lost you once…" Humphrey had yet to forget the day that Kate almost died in that caribou stampede years earlier. That was something he would never forget, even if Kate had survived. But if she died now, there would be no second chance for her. Being bitten by a zombie was a death sentence—once bitten, the victim would turn into a zombie unless the area was removed in time. And that only worked with limbs, but it would be difficult to amputate a limb because they were wolves.

Kate sighed. She knew that she'd do anything to keep them alive, but she also realized how bad Humphrey would take it if she died, even if it meant that lived. Kate and Humphrey were the kind of wolf couple who wanted to live together and to die together. If Kate died, Humphrey wouldn't leave her side and would die with her. And Kate would do the same for Humphrey if he died.

"Okay," Kate said. "I won't do anything to get myself killed…but that isn't going to stop me from doing what I must to protect all of you. Now let's get on with going to Shadow Forest to find the Saw Tooth Cave."


	20. An Alpha Proves Himself

**Chapter 19:**

**An Alpha Proves Himself**

"Princess, stop!" Garth called after the she-wolf as she ran through the field, yelling about how she'd not return until she found out of Runt was dead or alive. And she said that if he were dead, then she would end her own life.

"Oh, fuck you, Garth!" Princess yelled back. "Go back to the clearing in the field and just wait for me to come back. I won't until I find Runt! And if he's dead, well, I'll slash my throat using my own claws!"

"You can't go looking for Runt alone!" Garth told her, as he ran right behind her. He couldn't catch her, but he was able to keep up with Princess. "It's too dangerous out there to go anywhere alone! STOP!" he shouted.

Princess growled then slid to a stop. She turned on Garth quickly and started yelling at him. "You want to come with me? Fine! But stay out of my way or you will regret coming with me! The zombies will be the last thing you'll have to worry about! There will be hell to pay if you get in my way, Garth!"

Princess' threat caused Garth to back off in a posture of submission. He laid his ears back, he got on the ground, and tucked his tail between his hind legs. He covered his eyes with his paws.

"Get up," Princess ordered him. "You look like a fool, being submissive like that." Garth got up immediately, but was still a bit nervous about Princess. "You're right. I shouldn't go anywhere alone. It's just…I really want to know what happened to Runt…"

"I understand," Garth told her. "I feel the same way about Lilly. There hasn't been a single moment that I haven't thought about Lilly ever since we were separated. I also wonder, as you do about Runt, if she is dead or alive…"

"We're no use to our mates just standing here," Princess sighed. "Let's get to Shadow Forest and see if we can find Runt and his siblings there. And we'll stay there for a while if they are there, once we reach it, before we go back to the Western Territory to find Lilly and others."

Princess and Garth took off—together—and headed to the East. That was where Shadow Forest and the Saw Tooth Cave were located. Neither of them could see it from where they were in this field, but both Princess and Garth knew where Shadow Forest was. Runt had told Princess not long after she had joined their pack after the final war with the rogues of King's pack had come to an end. It was when Runt had been telling her all about Daria and everything that happened to her.

"How can you be sure that Claudette, Stinky, and Runt went to Shadow Forest?" Garth asked her. "How can you be sure that Kate, Humphrey, and Lilly are still in the Western Territory? How can you even be sure that any of them are still alive?! What if we're the only ones left?!"

"Shut up," Princess growled. "Am I the only who is trying to stay optimistic? Thirty minutes ago, you were the levelheaded wolf trying to keep him now and now I'm trying to keep you calm?! What has gotten into you, Garth? Listen to yourself. You need to get your head on right and be the wolf you were half an hour ago again! If not, you will die here and I'll be all alone trying to find more wolves to increase my chances of survival with!"

Garth sighed then closed his eyes. He didn't say anything in reply to Princess' rant.

"Don't you fucking sigh at me!" Princess roared. "Get your head screwed on right or I'll do it for you! You're acting like an idiot and that will get you killed when we're in a park full of zombies!"

In that moment, Garth decided that Princess was right. He couldn't be acting like this when there were zombies throughout Jasper Park, ready to attack them at the most unexpected of times. He'd had a pessimistic look on his face and a pessimistic outlook on the entire situation until Princess said that he would get killed if he kept acting like this. And Garth didn't want to die—not now and not ever.

"Let's get to Shadow Forest," Garth said to Princess. "I've had enough of being chased by zombies and being afraid of them. I'm done being afraid of dead things."

* * *

Rather than returning to the grassy field they had intended to call home for a while, Princess and Garth agreed that they should both head for Shadow Forest as soon as possible. Even if Daria, Claudette, Stinky, and Runt weren't there, it would still be a safer place to rest before they went back to the Western Territory, even if the Saw Tooth Cave was further away.

"When do you think we'll get to Shadow Forest?" Garth asked Princess as they walked across a wide-open field that offered no cover for them. "It's starting to get dark out already…"

"We'll get there before nightfall," Princess said in a whisper. She and Garth were both speaking in whispers so they would increase their chances of drawing the attention of zombies toward them.

"You're right, but what if we don't get there before it gets dark out?" Garth asked. "What will we do then?"

"There are trees everywhere. We'll just climb one and spend the night there, then continue our journey to Shadow Forest in the morning."

"There's one problem," Garth said, then stopped. He knew that it wouldn't go well if he told her what he had almost said.

"What?" Princess asked sharply.

"I never really learned how to climb trees all that well," Garth admitted. "Runt showed me, but I just never figured it out like everyone else did."

"Why are you only just telling me this now, when you're life could depend on climbing a tree?" Princess asked. She was getting annoyed with Garth again.

"It didn't matter until now!" Garth argued.

_Dumbass_, Princess thought. She wouldn't call him that now, but probably would before they reached Shadow Forest. _Clearly he has no knowledge of survival, if he can't even learn to climb a damn tree._ "Let's just move as fast as we can," she said. "Hopefully we'll get there before it gets dark out and you won't have to climb any trees."

Princess paid no attention to Garth as she walked on ahead. But if she had, she would've noticed that Garth's hackles, ears, and tail rise suddenly. He sensed a danger in the area that Princess must not have. And if she had, she must not have considered it as dangerous as Garth did. He couldn't stop worrying about it as Princess just walked away from him. How could she not be aware of the danger when she was clearly the better of the two of them, even if she was a Beta in the Western pack (formerly an Alpha in her old pack) and he was an Alpha of the Eastern Pack. But still, they were from the same pack—the United Pack, made up of the Eastern and Western Wolf Packs.

"What's taking you so long?" Princess shouted back at him, upon realizing that Garth hadn't been following her.

"Come back here, quickly," Garth said.

"What?"

"I sense something in the area," he tried explaining. And once he said that, Princess noticed how alert and on edge Garth was. She saw the way his ears and tail were twitching nervously and how his hackles had risen.

"What is it?" Princess asked once she had run back over to where Garth was.

Garth sniffed the air for any scent that could give him an idea of what it could possibly be while Princess looked around for any visual signs of dangerous. But Garth picked up the scent before Princess saw anything. And by the time he let her know it, she hadn't seen anything yet.

"I smell death," Garth whispered. "Rotting flesh."

"No," Princess gasped in a whisper.

"There are zombies nearby," Garth said. "And based on the strength of odor…" Garth paused, but when he spoke again, it was a tone of pure terror. "…there must be at least fifty of them…if not more." Princess didn't know what to say, but Garth seemed to read her panicked thoughts. "We have to get out of here. Now," he said with a growl in his tone.

"Where?!" Princess screamed, not caring if the zombies knew if they were there anymore. She and Garth both felt that it was too late to avoid being detected if Garth's sense of smell was a good way to predict the amount of zombies in the area.

"Just run!" Garth screamed. And both of the wolves took off together, not hesitating one second. When the horde of undead appeared, it was much greater in numbers than Garth had thought. There were too many zombie wolves to count, but both Princess and Garth knew that it was well over fifty of them.

"Run!" Princess screamed, as the horde of zombie wolves closed in on them from every direction. They were coming out of the forest all around the field. That wouldn't have been a great problem but the forest wasn't that far away from the two wolves on either side of them.

"Go!" Garth ordered Princess, clawing her rear end. That caused her to run faster because of the pain.

"What are you doing?!" Princess screamed.

"Distracting them!" Garth said, then turned away from her.

"No! Come back, Garth! We can both get away now!" she pleaded.

"Look at how many of them there are!" he argued. "If I don't do this, they'll both get us!"

Princess had almost asked Garth what made him think they would all follow him, but she ate her words when she saw the approaching horde turn away from Princess, who was hiding in a bush now. They all followed Garth, through some fucked up miracle, Princess thought, as he led them into the forest.

_At least they're gone,_ Princess thought as she let out a heavy sigh of relief. _But Garth…_

Princess stopped thinking abruptly when she heard a blood-curdling scream coming from the forest. It was that of a male wolf and she recognized the voice immediately.

"Garth!" Princess screamed then jumped out of the bush and ran through the opening in the forest where Garth had run through with the zombies behind him. She knew that the zombies following behind him could've have caught him, so what was it that caused him to scream? That question was on her mind as she ran through the clearly.

And she got her answer upon seeing the gruesome sight before her. Five zombie wolves had been coming from the direction Garth had been heading when he'd run into the forest and they had gotten a hold of him. Not much was left of Garth, as the countless zombies ripped his lifeless body apart. There was so much blood that it made Princess sick. And all of the ripped off limbs, being gnawed to the bone by the zombies, made her even sicker. Then there were all of Garth's guts—all over the small clearing in the forest as a result of his body being ripped to pieces. They had spilled out of his corpse. Some of the zombies were tearing into his stomach and intestines, spilling out their contents.

Princess saw what Garth's last meal was, as his stomach was ripped open and its contents spilled out onto the ground. It was a squirrel—well, the partially digested pieces of one.

"Oh, Garth," Princess cried, then turned to leave the forest. With a sick feeling in her stomach and a sad feeling in her heart, Princess had no idea what she could do now. Her only hope was to reach Shadow Forest before she ended up like Garth.


	21. A Timid Wolf's Demise

**Chapter 20:**

**A Timid Wolf's Demise**

There were two things Mica couldn't get out of her mind. The first one had to do with her nightmare about the zombies weeks ago. She felt like she had been living her nightmare every day for the past two weeks—and that her nightmare, along with Kate's, predicted that this would happen. The dream she'd had was a nightmare, but everything the wolves had been through in the past two weeks was Hell in her mind. Everything they had been through in the past two weeks was Hell on Earth for the living wolves all because of the undead ones.

The other thing Mica couldn't get about was a good thing, even if she was concerned about that one good thing. It was her mate, Stinky, because he had snuck out of the Alpha den with his siblings to look for Humphrey after he had led the zombies away from them on a hunt gone wrong. But now, Claudette, Stinky, and Runt's actions were in vain because Humphrey had returned to the Alpha den not long after they had left to look for their father. The survivors in this group—Kate, Humphrey, Lilly, Eve, and Mica—had no idea if Claudette, Stinky, and Runt were alive or not. They had no idea if Daria was alive. They had no idea if they were any other wolves, or animals, besides the five of them alive in all of Jasper.

They could only hope that Claudette, Stinky, and Runt had made it to the Saw Tooth Cave in Shadow Forest—nowhere else was safe but the Alpha den in all of Jasper. And these wolves knew that no one was in the Alpha den now, at least not those three, because they had just left there only hours ago.

"Will we ever seen Claudette, Stinky, and Runt again?" Mica asked. She was crying and had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was about Runt—she feared that he might have gotten hurt, if not killed. "I can't stay being without my mate and without my closest friends…it is killing me on the inside…"

"Of course we will see them again," Lilly told Mica, her niece-in-law. "All of us will make it to the Saw Tooth Cave alive to see Claudette, Stink, and Runt again."

"How can you be sure that they're even at the Saw Tooth Cave?" Mica asked with a whimper in her voice. "How do we know if they're even alive? If they are, they're probably wondering the same thing about us!"

"Mica!" Kate gasped. "How can you say that about my children, one of whom is your mate?! I love you as if you're a daughter I gave birth to, but you must stay optimistic. I can't stand to see you acting like this. We're still alive now because we've remained optimistic."

"We're still alive because we hide in that damn cave!" Mica snapped. "I won't last long now that we're out in the opening! Hiding has made me soft! Me being an Alpha doesn't mean anything anymore since we've been hiding in a cave for two weeks!"

"Mica," Humphrey said, "we can't talk about anything out in the open now because of the zombies…"

"…and if we keep moving," Eve took over, "we'll get to the Saw Tooth Cave sooner, if we never stop for unnecessary reasons. I'm sorry if I sound cruel, if we waste less time, we'll get to the Saw Tooth Cave faster, and we'll find out if they're there or not."

Mica sighed, feeling regret about losing head, even if they were all clearly under some sort of stress. There was no denying that fact or hiding their stress. Mica was mentally unstable right now, which was understandable, and anything could easily set her off.

"I'm sorry," she apologized in a voice that easily told the other four survivors that she was still sad about being away from her mate and friends. But they couldn't blame her. "I won't speak again, unless I must, until we've reached the Saw Tooth Cave. No useful words have come out of my mouth recently…"

* * *

"Shit…" Kate whispered half an hour later. "Why now?"she complained. "Why does it have to be raining now?"

It may have been raining for a while, but none of the wolves had been aware of it until now, as they stepped out of the forest they had been traveling through. The canopy of the forest had hidden any signs of rain from the wolves, but now that it was gone, they were being pelted by the rain relentlessly. It was a powerful rainstorm with large raindrops that hurt noticeably when they collided with the wolves' bodies. It felt like they were being hit with small stones.

"We can't stay out in this, Kate," Humphrey said.

"Where can we even go to wait this storm out?" Kate whined. "There are no caves for us to wait the storm out in."

Lilly looked about, trying to quickly find a solution to their problem. She was a bit of a genius when it came to nature and she could easily determine the presence, or lack of, any natural landmark. Just by looking around, Lilly was able to determine the presence of a nearby cave.

"Follow me," Lilly whispered suddenly. "Based on the geography of the area, there is a cave this way. It's not far away from here."

Lilly started down the trailer and the others followed her. Thankfully, the wolves found the cave quickly—the cave that Lilly had only speculated about the existence of. It was a small cave, but it was more than enough room for five ones, especially considering how they just wanted to wait out the storm.

Eve went to the back of the cave. She was somewhat exhausted and knew that sleeping out the duration of the rainstorm would make her feel better. She was a heavy sleeper, so the sounds of a rainstorm would fail to wake her up. Even thunder did nothing to wake her up, she was so heavy of a sleeper. Lilly stayed closer to her mother as she slept.

Kate, Humphrey, and Mica, however, decided to wait the storm out at the mouth of the cave. The three Alpha wolves watched the rainfall. So far, rain was all that had happened in the past half hour since it had started. When they had been traveling through the forest, they hadn't heard any thunder or seen any lightning flashes. And they weren't seeing or hearing lighting and thunder now. That was a good sign that the storm would be over quickly. But there seemed to be no end to this rainstorm, despite what they thought about it being over quickly, as the wolves watched the rain stop. It wasn't showing any signs of stopping soon. It would be a while before they got to head to Shadow Forest and the Saw Tooth Cave, it seemed.

"I'm starting to hate rainstorms," Mica groaned. "Especially now!"

"It should be over soon," Humphrey assured her. "I've never seen a rainstorm last longer than an hour."

"I hope you're right," Mica said. "We're not too far away from the Saw Tooth Cave, it seems."

* * *

"Fuck the world!" Mica screamed forty minutes later. It was still raining over an hour after it had begun—and it was showing no signs of letting up soon. Mica didn't care anymore—she just wanted to make a run for the Saw Tooth Cave _now_.

Mica darted out of the cave, running back up the trail faster than she had ever run before.

"Mica!" Kate called. "Come back!"

"Kate…" Humphrey said. The horror in his voice was impossible to not be noticed. "…they're here…the zombies. I can smell death and hear their moans…"

"Where are they?!" Lilly gasped urgently.

"Mica!" Humphrey screamed after sniffing the air again. The odor of death and the sound of the zombie wolves' moans were coming from down the same trail that Mica had just gone down. "Mica is heading right for them!"

"Enough talk!" Eve said. All of the frantic screaming had waked her up. She hadn't heard a word of the screaming but knew what was going on just by noticing how Mica wasn't in the cave anymore. "Where did Mica go?"

"Down the trailer!" Lilly said urgently. "Come on! She's heading right for the zombies!"

Kate, Humphrey, Lilly, and Eve ran out of the cave and took off down the same trailer that Mica had. They were following Mica's scent down the wet trail, as well as the sound of the zombies' moaning and the scent of their rotting flesh that was strong in the area. It got stronger, and the moans got louder, as the wolves went down the trail.

"Mica!" Kate called out again. "Where are you?! There are zombies in the forest! You're heading right for—"

"NO!" The wolves heard Mica scream that one word before she began letting out all sorts of screams that weren't words. They were bloodcurdling and agonizing screams. They wolves' powerful hearing allowed them to pick up every noise as Mica was possibly ripped apart by the zombie wolves. But what they heard next gave them a great amount of hope that she was still alive. "GET AWAY! NO—" There was a strange noise that sounded like a faint yep, but the wolves didn't hear it, it was so faint.

"We have to find her, NOW!" Kate barked. "She may still be alive!"

Mica's screams of terror—the others could only assume that they were screams of terror—continued as her four relatives desperately tried to find her.

And Humphrey was the first one to find Mica. But he didn't find his daughter-in-law in the way he had hoped he would find her. All over the clearing they had just found was blood. And several undead wolves were consuming the corpse of a living wolf. Bits of flesh and ripped apart internal organs were all over the clearing as the undead wolves consumed them and the body.

The now only four survivors immediately knew who the mutilated wolf was. They saw her ripped off and half-eaten head lying not far away.

"Oh, Mica!" Kate wailed. "Not Mica…m-my daughter-in-law! Mica…"

"Come, Kate," Humphrey said, also grieving Mica, "we can't do anything for her now…"


	22. Hunting Goes Bad

**Chapter 21:**

**Hunting Goes Bad**

It was the morning after Mica was killed by the zombies. That wasn't when it had stopped raining—it had, in a painful twist of irony, stopped raining just after Mica died at the claws and teeth of the zombies. Mica's death and that painful irony were the only reasons Kate, Humphrey, Lilly, and Eve hadn't left that night. The four wolves had been too saddened by Mica's death that they hadn't wanted to do any traveling last night. They had grieved Mica the entire night, even in their sleep.

"How will Stinky handle the news when we tell him?" Kate asked the others sadly. "I don't want to see his reaction to that…"

"If he is even alive," Lilly growled. It was a sad growl, not an angry one.

"Lilly!" Eve gasped. "You watch your tongue! That is your sister's son you're talking about! Would you want Kate to say that about Garth or your son, if you had one?"

Lilly immediately regretted saying it. She should've kept her mouth shut, she thought. Lilly bit her own tongue—it didn't bleed but Lilly wished it had. She felt foolish for even saying that about Stinky, her nephew and Kate's oldest son. Lilly couldn't believe she had made such a dark statement about her own nephew.

"I'm sorry, Kate," Lilly said, as she cried. She told Humphrey the same thing.

"We're not that far from Shadow Forest," Kate said, after she and Humphrey both accepted Lilly's apology. And after the couple told Lilly that they weren't angry with her for saying that. "We'll be seeing Claudette, Stinky, and Runt very soon."

"And Daria, too," Humphrey added.

As the wolves got on the trail, the serious mood hanging over their heads like a cloud didn't leave. Not only were they still worried about the fate of their relatives and Daria, they couldn't stop thinking of ways they could break the news of Mica's death to Stinky, her mate. But they all knew one thing—that Stinky wouldn't well, that was for sure.

"How will we ever break this news to our son?" Kate asked, clearly still grieving Mica, her daughter-in-law. "I don't want to see him go through that…yet we can't just leave him to wonder about why Mica is no longer with us…"

"Kate," Humphrey said. "I'll tell Stinky about Mica. One of us will have to and that someone should be me, as his father. It will break my heart to see Stinky react to learning his mate was killed, but it has to be done. I just hope that we won't lose anyone else…"

* * *

Daria's stomach was experiencing a horrible pain, as if it was knotting up. She knew it was because she hadn't been eating properly since Runt gave his life for her, Claudette, and Stinky only two days ago, by leading a horde of zombies out of Shadow Forest. Daria didn't have the will to want to eat anymore. She had basically ceased to need and ceased to feed. The only time Daria did eat was whenever Claudette and Stinky had leftover scraps and they wanted her to eat it. But the two siblings had to beg for Daria to eat whatever they gave her, whether an actual meal or just scraps. But she didn't enjoy eating that meat, when she did, all because Runt and Floyd, her closest friends, were dead.

But now, Daria was experiencing so bad of a knotting feeling in her stomach that she knew she had to eat, even if she didn't want to consume anything. And she knew she had to eat _a lot_. And she had let both Claudette and Stinky know it not through her words but her groans of pain.

"We'll go hunting for you," Stinky told her. All three of the wolves were still thankful for Runt's sacrifice, even if they all still missed him greatly and wished he hadn't died when he led the zombies away, because they hadn't seen a single zombie wolf since Runt had died in Daria's grasp.

"Will you be all right by yourself for a little bit?" Claudette asked Daria. "We'll try to avoid being gone for long, Daria, even if there is no danger here…thanks to Runt…"

"Please be careful out there regardless," Daria told Claudette and Stinky. "I don't want to lose either of you…I've already lost Runt and Floyd to them…" She didn't even want to say the word "zombie." Daria treated it like a profane word that should never be used.

"We'll be fine," Stinky assured her. "If we see any sign of them, we will leave that area immediately and come back here."

"Just stay at the back of the cave," Claudette said, as she and Stinky went to leave the Saw Tooth Cave. "You'll be fine until we get back."

"Your mother's spirit won't let anything get you," Stinky said. That was the last thing either of them said before they exited the cave then disappeared from what would've been Daria's view if she weren't blind.

Daria laid her head down on her paws and looked at the mouth of the cave, knowing that the only thing she could do was wait for Claudette and Stinky to come back. She hoped they would come back and not like Runt had, bitten and bleeding from a fatal wound to his neck inflicted by the zombies. She hoped they would return for enough food to feed her and make up for the days she hadn't eaten. That was at least three days, which was the time since Runt had died in her grasp.

* * *

"Where can we even find enough food to feed Daria?" Stinky asked his older sister.

"I don't know," Claudette said quietly. "I wish we had thought this out before we promised Daria food…"

"There may be one place," Stinky said. "We'll have to head back to within Shadow Forest. Because of the ghost, it is untouched by the zombies, so there should be all sorts of critters running about still. We just need to find them."

They crossed back into Shadow Forest, feeling much safer in the process despite seeing the dried blood they knew was Claws', and began their search for critters to feed Daria. They had eaten properly, so they had the energy to hunt and would only worry about getting enough to feed Daria.

"I smell raccoons," Stinky whispered.

"And I smell porcupines," Claudette whispered back. "Let's not kill them if it's Frieda and Fran." Frieda and Fran were the twin sisters who had guarded Shadow Forest when Daria had been hiding from her former pack, but they were now friends of the wolves in the Eastern and Western Pack. Claudette hadn't liked them at first because they had insulted her mane, but they got along well now despite that.

"Wait, Wait," Stinky said suddenly. "I smell something else."

"What?" Claudette asked. She'd never doubt her brother's sense of smell. His nose was never wrong. If Stinky said he smelled something, then Claudette knew she better listen to him.

Stinky began sniffing. It was a loud sniff. And then he gasped. He knew what it was. "Claudette," he whispered, his voice tainted with fear, "get back to the Saw Tooth Cave."

"What is it?" Claudette asked.

"Zombies," he told her in a whisper.

Claudette's ears and tail fell. "No," she gasped quietly. The fear in her voice was noticeable. Very noticeable. She couldn't believe that the zombies were here.

"Go now," Stinky told her again.

"Not without you," Claudette argued.

"I'll be right behind you," he told her. "I promise. Just go."

"I'm not leaving until I see you following me," Claudette said stubbornly.

"Go!" Stinky screamed suddenly. Then he disappeared up the trail that lead back to the Saw Tooth Cave before Claudette could react. Her heart dropped to her stomach when she saw the zombies approaching. She felt like stone. She was frozen with fear and Stinky had no idea that his sister wasn't following him, as he ran away in a fear-fueled run.

Stinky stopped near the hill that led up to the Saw Tooth Cave, only just realizing how Claudette wasn't behind him.

"Claudette!" Stinky called. "Where are you?"

"STINKY!" Claudette's voice echoed through the forest when she screamed. "HELP!"

"Claudette!" Stinky screamed then ran back in the direction had had just come. Daria had appeared from the cave, looking around. "Claudette! Where are you?!"

"NO!" Claudette screamed. Stinky swore he heard her yelp painfully as most canines did when they were hurt in some way. Then Stinky heard a loud ripping sound and he knew what had happened immediately. Daria knew it, too, as she had hearing that matched the strength of Stinky's sense of smell.

Stinky had thought there was still hope for his sister until now, having thought that the sound of ripping flesh could've been her fighting the zombies and tearing them with her claws. But the blood-curdling scream that echoed through the forest a minute later told him and Daria otherwise. They knew it was Claudette. Both of them had heard her scream before, even if it wasn't like this.

"No," Stinky cried with a whimper. "No…" He collapsed on his knees. "Claudette…" Tears were running down his gray face as it started raining.

"Stinky!" Daria screamed. "Get out of there! They're getting closer! The zombies, they're getting closer!"

"But Claudette, she—" Stinky began.

"Claudette is dead!" Daria snapped. "And you will be too if you don't get out of there. Now _move_!"

"Claudette…" Stinky cried as he got up and headed up the hill that led to the Saw Tooth Cave, jumping from broken rock to broken rock as he got closer to the cave. Stinky had no idea that he was heading for a loose rock, nor did Daria.

But they found out when there was a loud crashing sound when Stinky stepped onto that rock, causing it to roll down the hill, and crush a lone zombie wolf that had followed the sound of Daria and Stinky's screaming.

"Stinky!" Daria yelped.

"I'm fine!" Stinky called just before appearing on the ledge. He was fine physically, but shaking over the fact that Claudette was dead. He had heard her get ripped apart by the zombie wolves before he had been able to do anything to save her. "But Claudette…" he cried. "She's dead and it's all my fault! I should've made sure she was following me!"

Daria didn't know what to say as Stinky cried, burying his snout her in chest. She felt her fur get wet with Stinky's tears as he cried louder than ever, repeatedly screaming his dead siblings' names.

"I'm sorry, Stinky," Daria whispered. "I'm so sorry…"


	23. Unpleasant Discoveries

**Chapter 22:**

**Unpleasant Discoveries**

The group of now four wolves—Kate, Humphrey, Lilly, and Eve—were nearing Shadow Forest. They hadn't seen any large groups of zombies since Mica was killed, but there was blood all over this clearing near the Saw Tooth Cave. And also, all over the clearing, was Claws' scent. That told them the worst—that Claws had been killed.

But she was a zombie, the group of four wolves learned now. They saw Claws shambling around the clearing, moaning incoherently in a low tone. But it was loud of enough of a moan that the four living wolves could hear it. Claws was severely mutilated—large amounts of flesh had been stripped from her body, revealing many of her bones. Internal organs were also visible, of the few that hadn't been ripped out or had spilled out of her when she had been mutilated by the zombies. Those were all over the clearing, half eaten, in the pools of blood. Claws' tail and half of her face had also been ripped off. There were holes in her back and her underbelly where that stick had impaled Claws through her body.

"Not Claws," Kate cried. "If she's dead, do any of us stand a chance? She died so close to the Saw Tooth Cave! We'll die just like her, before we even get there!"

"No, we won't," Eve said. "That hole in Claws' body tells me why the zombies got her—she was impaled on something. Now, enough. Let's get to that cave, _now_."

"I smell Claudette," Lilly said. Then she gasped. "Stinky was here and Claudette is still here! She's close."

"I smell death as well," Humphrey gasped. "Something died here and it's not just Claws…"

"Don't say it, Humphrey!" Kate gasped. "Don't you say that our daughter is dead! Don't say it or I will shove a rock down your throat to stop you! Just shut up and start looking for our daughter!"

Humphrey, while he couldn't believe that Kate had said that to him, couldn't blame her for snapping at him either. It was one of their children who could be dead, so why would he blame her? Kate was on edge because Claudette's scent and the scent of death were coming from the same area.

"Where is the scent coming from, Lilly?" Humphrey asked urgently. "Claudette, I mean. We all know when the other scent is coming from…"

"Just over there," Lilly said in a shaky voice. "From the same place…that the scent of death is coming from…"

"No…" Kate gasped. "You're wrong!"

Before any of could stop her, Kate ran that way and then screamed. She wasn't screaming because she had been attacked but because of what she saw. It was her daughter—she was dead. Rather, undead and severely mutilated just like Claws was. Pieces of Claudette were all over this area, as was her blood. Her body was covered in bite marks from other wolves—the other undead wolves, including Claws.

"Claudette!" Kate screamed in psychological agony. "Not my daughter…no…"

"Claudette…" Humphrey gasped when he saw his undead daughter shambling around. He and Kate both felt their hearts breaking more and more with every movement their undead daughter made. Claudette's grandmother, Eve, and aunt, Lilly, felt the same way.

In tears, for the second time in her life since watching an undead rogue kill her mate, Winston, Eve said, "We must get out of here now. I'm sorry…we can't do anything for Claudette now…"

"B-But…my daughter," Kate cried. "Claudette…"

"She's gone, Kate," Eve said. "Now, we must get to the Saw Tooth Cave immediately. We must hope that Daria, Runt, and Stinky are still there…"

"Come, Kate," Lilly said gently. "Come, Humphrey…we aren't far from the Saw Tooth Cave. I can see the hill from here. We'll be safe there…"

"I-I can't believe Claudette is gone," Humphrey said to his mate as the group of four went up the hill. When they reached the top, minutes later, without interference from the ghost of Daria's mother, only two wolves greeted them. Not three wolves they had expected. Daria and Stinky were there, but Runt wasn't.

"W-Where is Runt?" Humphrey asked.

Daria and Stinky looked at each other nervously. Hesitantly. But they finally nodded hesitantly, again, agreeing on some unspoken decision.

The tension in the cave was at its peak. Daria and Stinky knew that, because of all of the screaming they had heard, that these four already knew about Claudette.

But the four wolves didn't know about Runt's death and that was playing a large role in the tension hanging over their heads.

Finally, Daria spoke, knowing that Stinky didn't have the guts to tell his own parents that his brother was dead. Not after they had found out about Claudette, especially—and not when Stinky was still grieving his siblings' deaths. Not only Runt and Claudette but also Mica, now. He knew why his mate wasn't here without even having to ask his parents why Mica wasn't with them.

Daria let out a heavy breath, then said, "I'm sorry to tell you this…we're all that is left. Runt didn't make it…"


	24. The Last Night in the Saw Tooth Cave

**Chapter 23:**

**The Last Night in the Saw Tooth Cave**

This would be the last night the six wolves spent in the Saw Tooth Cave, a week after Kate's group had learned Runt and Claudette were dead. They might just be the last six wolves in Jasper who were still alive, as they had no idea if Princess and Garth had survived. Just six wolves out of the hundreds who had once lived throughout Jasper Park—Kate, Humphrey, Lilly, Daria, Eve, and Stinky. All of the Northern and Southern Wolves were dead, as were the Eastern Wolves. There were only six wolves alive, that they knew of, and they were in this cave. And these six survivors doubted that Princess and Garth could be alive. They all believed, as well, the same thing about the wolf pack at Rabbit Poo Mountain, Daria's birthplace, which was a part of the Southern Pack.

"Why are we still alive," Daria said mournfully, her memory of Runt, Claudette, Claws, and Floyd's deaths still fresh in her mind, "when everyone else in Jasper is dead or undead? What makes the six of us special enough to survive when everyone else died?"

"I don't know," Kate said. She and the rest of her group were still grieving the recently deceased. Daria and Stinky, too. "But I don't think we are special or lucky just because we are still alive. I think the deceased are the lucky ones. They aren't cursed with trying to survive this Hell. I wish I had died when this began…death is surely a better fate than living in a world in which all of our friends and family are dead or zombies."

"Then why didn't we leave?" Stinky growled. He couldn't accept that Mica was dead. She had been pregnant, too! Not only was his mate dead, but his unborn pups were dead, too! "Why don't we just leave Jasper?"

"You tell me where we can go!" Eve snapped. "How do we know if Jasper is the only place with zombies? What if the zombies are in Banff, Red Deer Park, and at Rabbit Poo Mountain? What if they are all over Canada? What if they are all over the world! We don't know if there is anywhere else we can go but this cave!"

"Baffin Island," Daria said suddenly.

"What?" Kate gasped.

"We can go to Baffin Island," Daria explained. "No one would go to an island like that one. Not even humans. There is no chance of zombies being there."

"Suicide!" Kate screamed. "That is suicide! Baffin Island is thousands of miles from here! Look at how many wolves died only feet from their dens!"

"Then what do you suggest?" Daria snapped. "We just set here and wait until we starve to death or are forced to leave, then die on a hunt like your daughter did?"

"Don't you fucking talk about Claudette like that!" Kate roared.

Daria decided to ignore Kate's ranting. "Baffin Island is our only hope!" she continued.

"If we have the food to give us the energy to make that two thousand plus mile journey! Whether we hunt for food, and successfully, or not, we are the food to those fucking walking corpses!" Kate's voice rose with every word or two. "We'd might as well just walk out there and scream 'Fuck the world!' until the zombies come to tear us apart because that is what we are doing every time we leave the safety of a cave!"

"ENOUGH!" Eve roared. "If the zombies don't tear us apart, then all of your arguing will! I have had enough of you young wolves screaming and ranting at each other and I-I…"

Eve couldn't speak suddenly and felt a sharp piercing in her chest. It felt as if her heart and the muscles around her ribs were tightening in—and it was all due to the stress. The stress caused not only by all the deaths due to the zombies but all of the arguing among her relatives and friends as well. Eve let out a painful squeal then gasped as she fell to the ground.

Lilly screamed immediately as the others froze. Even Daria knew what was happening and she couldn't see it. "Heart attack! She is having a heart attack!" Lilly jumped her mother immediately and began pushing on Eve's chest.

The others watched, forgetting their argument entirely yet feeling as if they had caused this to happen with their arguing, helplessly as Lilly tried saving her mother's life. The others couldn't do anything to help Eve, as much as they wanted to, because Lilly was the only one who knew how. She was the only one who had learned all the healing arts that Eve knew. The only other wolves who had—Candy, Sweets, Reba, and Janice—were dead.

But Lilly realized she was too late. She couldn't save Eve now—her mother's heart had stopped and she was dead. Lilly couldn't accept that fact, however, and she kept on pressing against her mother's chest regardless.

"No…no…" Lilly cried, feeling that she had failed her mother by not saving her life. But, even Lilly knew that eve had died before she'd been able to save her, Lilly didn't know that Eve had died before hitting the ground.

Everyone else was speechless except for Kate, who was blaming herself for her mother's sudden death.

"She's dead because of me…" Kate whispered as tears flowed down her face. "If I hadn't argued with all of you and just kept my damn mouth shut," she was addressing Lilly, "then our mother would still be alive. I basically killed her…"


	25. The Cabin

**Chapter 24:**

**The Cabin**

Hell. That was what the now only five survivors had been through for weeks. And last night was no different—first, Kate and Humphrey had learned of Runt and Claudette's death, and Stinky had learned of Mica's death. And after all of that, Eve died of a heart attack that had resulted from a sudden and loud argument between Kate and Daria.

They had buried Eve outside of the cave in a spot next to Runt, grieved both of them—as well as Claudette, Mica, Claws, and Floyd. Then they had returned to the Saws Tooth Cave that night. Not a zombie had been seen or heard last night, but the five wolves had barely slept. They were wanted and wanted to sleep more, but none of them could get back to sleep. And they all wanted to leave this place, if it was safe in the cave, only because of all the bad memories they had here. Just the sight of this clearing around the Saw Tooth Cave reminded them of how Runt, Claudette, Mica, Claws, and Floyd all died nearby or in this cave.

While the wolves were planning to leave Jasper Park for Baffin Island, even if it was over two thousand miles away, they had no idea if there were any places they could all safe havens and reach before nightfall on the way to that island. They refused to travel at night not because they couldn't see—wolves possessed excellent night vision—but because they would be exhausted by the time it got dark out.

That problem was what the five wolves were discussing now.

"Will we even be able to find a safe place to sleep at night before it gets dark out?" Daria asked. "Is there even such a place in Jasper other than the Saw Tooth Cave?'

No one answered right away, but Kate seemed to be thinking about something. She was in deep thought, with her eyes closed, ears stuck up, and tapping her right hind paw on the ground.

She finally spoke two minutes later. "The cabin in the widows," Kate said.

"What cabin in the woods?" Stinky asked.

"The park rangers' cabin," his mother answered. "Not only is it safe for one night, we'd be able to stay there for as long as we need to. And I'm sure they have month's worth of food there."

"How safe it is?" Daria asked.

"A grizzly bear couldn't get in their cabin if it tried," Humphrey said. "We can survive there as long as we need to without needing to worry about the zombies."

"Where will we go after that, if we do leave it?" Lilly asked. Her thoughts were clouded with memories of her mother's death, as well as wondering if Princess and Garth were dead or alive.

"The store across the river," Kate took over. "The park rangers' cabin is located less than a morning's travel from where we are now, and the cabin is located a morning's travel away from the store. We'll stay at the cabin top rest for a few days before we head to the store. And when we get there, we'll be even safer, especially if we can get the steel shutters done over the windows."

"I hope the owner is still there," Humphrey commented. "Not only will getting into and barricading the store be easier, he has a gun with him. Plus, I'm sure he will remember Kate, Stinky, and I." Humphrey was referring to Max, the gas station manager who had tried killing Humphrey with his shotgun after confusing him with a rabid wolf—only due to the white frosting from a cupcake Humphrey had just eaten. But, the winter after, Max had left, Kate, Humphrey, and their pups bowls of dog food and water, and left them along to go see his family, which the wolves had reminded him of. Surely, they figured, Max would accept them this time, especially if he was aware of the zombie threat. How could he not be aware of it?

"I remember him," Stinky said. "If that is the man who left us food and water when we were pups, I mean."

"Yes, it is," Kate said. "I'm sure he's still alive, considering how he has that gun in his story. And we'll be there in a few days," she added.

"We we do survive this," Stinky said sadly, "it won't be the same without my siblings, grandparents, wife, and friends." The friends Stinky was referring to were Magril, her brother Fleet, and her mate Lilly. And the mate of his deceased brother Runt—Princess. Lastly, his Uncle Garth, too. Stinky had no idea what happened to Princess and Garth, but he was beginning to fear the worst for both of them.

Daria decided to bring herself into the sad conversation. "I am mourning them all, as well," the blind wolf said, "but all wounds heal with time, even the worst of ones like we have all experienced. We have been through hell and our morale is low, but our wounds will heal eventually. It will be a while, but we will recover from this eventually."

The wolves were speechless. They had needed someone to say something like what Daria just did. They all felt a new spirit in them, a new will to survive, and they hoped nothing else would happen to crush their morale again.

* * *

Just as night was arriving, the five wolves arrived at the park rangers' cabin near the outskirts of the park. They were physically exhausted and ready to sleep, but they still needed to find a way into the cabin first. They had made it all this way without any conflict involving the zombies. The plus was they hadn't seen or heard a single zombie, either.

"Is there any way to get in the cabin?" Stinky yawned. "I don't see one."

"I'm looking, I'm looking," Kate yawned. "There should be a doggy door somewhere on the building. I remember seeing it when I was younger and used to explore Jasper all the time." Then she saw the rubber, maybe cloth, flap that was nailed onto the door. "Found it!" she said almost triumphantly. "I found it!"

"And that isn't the only thing that was found!" Daria gasped. It wasn't her words but her terrified tone that alerted the others. First, due to her extraordinary hearing, she had heard the moaning, and then she had smelled that familiar scent of rotting flesh. "Zombie!" Daria screamed suddenly.

"Not now!" Kate growled. "Stinky, get Daria in the cabin, NOW!"

"Come, Daria," Stinky instructed, guiding the blind wolf toward the doggy door. Thankfully, he managed to help her find it, and they got into the cabin. But Kate, Lilly, and Humphrey were still outside and all of the survivors knew that the zombie wolf was close, probably just around the corner of the building.

"Get inside!" Lilly ordered urgently. "I'll be right behind you!"

"No, Lilly!" Kate cried. "I don't want to lose you, too!"

"Go!" she barked. "I'll get in before the zombie can get me!"

Kate and Humphrey, albeit reluctantly, and for obvious reasons, slipped into the cabin through the doggy door with no trouble. But when Lilly tried to slip through the small opening in the door, however, she got stuck when she was about halfway through it. It didn't make sense to her! How could she have gotten stuck when she was smaller than Kate and Humphrey were? They had gotten through without getting stuck!

The worst part about this situation was the fact that the zombie wolf had just appeared around the corner of the building at the same moment Lilly had gotten stuck. And it was dangerously close to the screaming wolf. And Lilly knew it—she had seen it appear just before getting stuck. And, before she could beg for help, Lilly felt teeth tearing into her hind legs. Wolf teeth…undead wolf teeth.

"I'm bitten!" Lilly screamed, then suddenly popped through the doggy door, blood trailing behind her from both of her hind legs. Both of her mutilated feel that were just bloody stumps now. The zombie had bitten, no, ripped, both of Lilly's feet out.

And, as Lilly lay on the floor screaming, all of the wolves knew what would happen to her this time tomorrow. And there was nothing that could stop it from happening.


	26. So Much Pain

**Chapter 25:**

**So Much Pain**

All hell broke loose. Lilly was screaming in pain and cursing the zombie wolf that had bit her and tore both of her hind feet off. Lilly had never cursed in her life until now. Kate was weeping over her bleeding, cursing, and screaming sister as Humphrey and Stinky worked together to push a large wooden crate in front of the doggy door before that zombie could get in. And it wouldn't because their task was successful. The heavy crate was blocking the only open entrance into the building now.

"Stinky, take Daria upstairs," Humphrey said as he and Kate tried to stop the bloody of Lilly's stumps. They knew nothing could be done to prevent her from turning now—it was too late to save Lilly through amputation, even if the wolves had no way to do that—but they didn't want her to bleed out just because she was going to die anyway.

"B-But, I want to help Aunt Lilly—" Stinky began stammering.

"Listen to your mother!" Kate snapped. That was her grief talking, not her being angry with her son. She couldn't be angry at Stinky, her only survive pup. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "Just take Daria upstairs—make sure she is safe and that nothing happens to her if…"

"If what?" Daria asked when Kate couldn't finish that sentence. She and Stinky were afraid to get an answer.

But they got it, from Humphrey. "…if the zombies somehow get in here," he finished Kate's sentence for her. "We don't want anything bad to happen to you two, even if that means the three of us die. Hide in one of the rooms upstairs, if there are any. Make sure the door stays shut and barricaded with anything the two of you can move. Leave in the morning out the windows up there, if it comes to that."

"Why not come with us?" Daria asked.

"Someone has to distract the zombies if they get in," Kate said.

Lilly didn't want to hear that from her sister or brother-in-law. "And it should be me," she said, "if that does happen. I'm going to die in about a day anyway. If anyone dies, it should be me, the one who won't live much longer anyway. The four of you all have a chance at life and should take it—mine, will be over, soon. None of your lives will be over by nightfall because of a bite."

"Please get upstairs, Son," Humphrey begged. "Do as we say, just to be safe. We'll both come up there immediately if there is any trouble. We promise," he added. "We both promise."

* * *

Daria and Stinky got upstairs with no trouble, despite Daria being blinded, and then they barricaded the first room (with a window) that they could find, with all sorts of crates and other junk that was in the room.

While Daria didn't know it, due to her blindness, Stinky could tell they were in a bedroom. It was small, but more than enough room for just two wolves. And, thankfully, there was one window at the other end of the room. There was also an old, run down bed against the left side of it, which would be suitable enough for wolves to sleep on. Daria and Stinky were both used to sleeping on hard cave floors, sometimes on beds of moss, so sleeping on a rundown bed wouldn't bother them at all. Even that would be heaven for them, whereas it would be a nightmare for humans, who were used to new beds, not run down ones.

Stinky led Daria to that bed. Once she had gotten up there and laid down, Stinky laid down by her side just so Daria didn't feel alone. She shouldn't be left alone after everything she had been through—losing Runt, her closest friend, and Floyd, who was the only reason she hadn't died as a pup. Not to mention how she had overheard Claws' death, as well as Claudette's. Just to be blind and one of the few survivors of a zombie apocalypse was Stinky's idea of Hell. He couldn't imagine how bad it was to be blind on a normal day, let alone to be going through something like this in which she was always in danger of dying.

"Will the four of us live through this?" Daria asked Stinky. She knew Stinky was there because she had the bed creak when he had climbed onto it and because he was resting his head onto of her head. That was just to let Daria know he was still there since she couldn't see the gray wolf.

"Of course we will," Stinky said in a whisper. "Now get some sleep, Daria. We all need it."

But, in his heart, Stinky doubted that Lilly would be the last one of them to die. He wasn't worried about himself and Daria, but his parents, who were still downstairs with Lilly, his aunt who would be undead in less than a day's time.

* * *

"I love you, Lilly," Kate whispered, almost miserably, in her little sister's left tear.

As she, Humphrey, and Lilly slept in a bedroom they had managed to find downstairs, as it was impossible for Lilly to climb the stairs due to her injury, and they didn't want to leave Lilly all alone in her last day of life. They had stopped the bleeding, yes, but that didn't change the fact Lilly was living out her last day of life. And Kate would have to watch her little sister die then return to life as a zombie in a matter of only twenty-four hours, maybe less now. Kate didn't want tomorrow night to come—she wanted to freeze time forever and stop the virus from turning her sister into a zombie. But Kate knew that wasn't possible and she would have to endure the hell of watching her sister become a zombie.

"I love you, too, Kate," Lilly returned. She was also in tears, having never imagined that, back when this had begun, she would join the ranks of the undead. "Everything will be alright…with time. All wounds heal with enough time, as Daria told us all."

"No, Lilly!" Kate sobbed. "Not the wounds we have over the losses we have suffered. We'll never get over your death or the deaths of my pups. And everyone else…"

"You will, sister," Lilly tried, once again, to assure Kate and Humphrey that everything would eventually be better. "Now, get some sleep…tomorrow night will be rough for all of us…"

* * *

"I don't know if I can take much more of this, to be honest," Daria said. She sat up suddenly, causing Stinky's head to fall down onto the body. But he sat up immediately, not caring that had happened, and stared as Daria spoke. "First, I had to kill Floyd when he became one of them then I had to listen to Claws get ripped apart…and Runt…Claudette…and now Lilly!" Daria sobbed.

Stinky didn't know how else to try and comfort Daria other than by wrapping his front legs around her in a comforting manner. Stinky was horrible at comforting others, so hugging was about all this gray wolf knew to do. But he did know that, for Daria, losing Floyd was like losing a father—he had raised her from her puppy days, after she was orphaned because of the Southern Pack Wolves who lived at Rabbit Poo Mountain. And Stinky also knew that, when his little brother, Runt, had died in her grasp, that Daria had felt as if she lost her mate, even though she had never married and was still a virgin. But now, because of the massive zombie outbreak, but of those facts about Daria would probably never change now. She would never be able to start a family, know the pleasures of mating, know the joys of raising pups, or becoming a wife to a wolf who loved her.

"We should sleep," Stinky whispered mournfully. "Tomorrow night will be…Hell for us. I am dreading tomorrow night…I wish it wouldn't arrive just for Aunt Lilly's sake…"

"I can't sleep," Daria said. "Just knowing that Lilly will turn into a zombie makes me think I'll have nightmares or see Lilly as a zombie every time I close my eyes."

"NO!" Daria and Stinky heard Kate screaming suddenly before chaos erupted downstairs. First, they heard that damn moaning and then loud clawing at the door.

"They're going to break the door down!" Humphrey screamed so loudly that these two heard it upstairs. "Come on, Lilly, we have to get upstairs!"

"Oh, fuck—" Kate began but her screaming was drowned out by the sound of wood splintering loudly as the door broke down into pieces, resulting an intensely crashing sound.

"Run for it, Lilly!" Kate screamed then went silent briefly, making the two wolves hearing this all upstairs for the worst just as briefly. "I'll get Humphrey! NO—"

Daria and Stinky felt their blood run cold as ice water and chills shoot down their spines when they no longer heard screaming coming from the downstairs. Everything was silent except for the sounds of the zombies shambling around and moaning. There were no sounds that told Daria and Stinky that Kate, Humphrey, and Lilly were still alive. They didn't know what had happened to them but the fact that they could no longer hear Kate, Humphrey, and Lilly's voices or screaming made them fear that the worst had happened.

"They're dead!" Stinky cried. "Oh, no…they're dead! Fuck…"

Daria's ears perked up suddenly. Her extraordinary hearing was being put to good use. "I can hear wolves running around!" she gasped. "I hear three pairs of feet scurrying around just below this room! It has to be your parents and Lilly!"


	27. Three Wolves' Last Stand

**Chapter 26:**

**Three Wolves' Last Stand**

Things had been peaceful, despite the three wolves' grief, until now, when a sudden attack of several zombie wolves had resulted in the front door of the cabin breaking down. Thankfully, neither Kate nor Humphrey had been wounded and Lilly wasn't killed, but now, the three survivors were trapped in the office of the rangers' cabin. And they had yet to discover if there was back way out of this office.

"What do we do now?" Kate growled then angrily kicked a nearby trashcan over. Thankfully, it was a plastic trashcan so it didn't make any noise when she kicked it over. The zombie wolves didn't know that these three had hidden in here. And they knew that the zombies were unaware of the presence of the two wolves who were upstairs—Daria and Stinky.

"They don't know we're in here," Humphrey whispered. "If we're quiet, we'll be able to wait them out and they will leave soon, I am sure."

"They'd better," Kate whispered angrily. "I'm sorry to say this, Lilly, but I don't want to be in a small room like this when…"

"Don't be sorry," Lilly whispered, cutting Kate off before she could finish her sentence. "I don't blame you. I wouldn't want to be stuck in a small room like this, either, when someone turned into a zombie."

"Until we get out of here," Humphrey went on a whisper, "Kate and I will try to find another way out of this room. A door, another doggy door.."

"Fuck doggy doors," Lilly snarled bitterly. "I don't want to hear about those damn things again…"

"…any way out of here," Humphrey finished regretfully.

"I don't see any other way out besides the way we came out," Kate sighed with frustration. "It looks like we're stuck in this room until _they_ leave," she growled.

"How long do you think it will be until they're all gone?" Lilly asked.

"If we keep speaking in whispers, they'll never know we're in here," Humphrey assured her. "And that should be soon."

"It had damn well better be," Kate complained in a bitter tone. "My claustrophobia is getting worse. And so is my necrophobia…" Claustrophobia was a fear of tight spaces and Necrophobia was a fear of dead things, a fear that Kate hadn't developed until a few weeks ago. No one in all of Jasper had suffered from necrophobia until this had truly began—that was when a massive horde of zombies had suddenly attacked Jasper, starting right outside of the Alpha den. Thinking of her old home, Kate wished that her group had never left the Alpha den. Four of them—Runt, Claudette, Eve, and Mica—had died just because they left the Alpha den. And now, in less than a day's time, Lilly would join them.

"I still hear their moans," Humphrey whispered.

That sound sent a chill down their spines every time they heard it. Even when they knew it was the wind blowing and not the zombies, they got the chills just because it reminded them of the zombies' moans. That moan was a reminder of death and the most unpleasant sound someone could ever hear. It drove wolves insane and even caused them to commit suicide if they heard it for too long. But Kate, Humphrey, and Lilly knew, now, that it wasn't the wind they heard blowing—they knew it was those zombie wolves because they had seen them coming into the cabin not long before they had barricaded themselves inside this small room.

"How many are there?" Lilly asked, having not seen the amount of zombies—she had only carried about running away before being seen, an act that had been difficult for Lilly due to her bitten off feet.

"No more than ten," Kate told her.

"Why?" Humphrey asked Lilly.

"I could distract them easily," Lilly explained, "so you two to get upstairs and escape out the windows up there with Daria and Stinky. I'm going to die in by tomorrow night anyway—what difference will twenty-some hours mean to me?"

"No," Kate said in a low voice. "We are taking NO more foolish risks, even if one of us will die regardless! There will be no more suicidal actions. We are _done_ making such foolish mistakes and losing our lives. Mica died because she made the foolish mistake of going off alone when she knew better. And we will die if we leave this room so long as there are zombies out there. I don't care if it's just one—we are staying in here until that one is gone. Do you understand me, Lilly? Humphrey?"

"Yes, I do," Lilly said for both of them, truly agreeing with her sister's meaningful words. Humphrey was no different, as much as they both wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

* * *

"I can hear all three of them talking, even if they're just whispering," Daria said to Stinky, as he tried getting the window open without making too much noise. And that was difficult enough for a human, so it was much worse for a wolf—getting the window open was hard enough, so doing it silently as nearly impossible Stinky. Being a wolf, he didn't have opposable things like humans and some monkeys had. But he had to get it open silently or the sound of it opening would draw the zombies' attention to the upstairs.

"I…I've almost got it," Stinky said in a determined tone. "Yes!" he said triumphantly when he finally pushed the window up that only he and Daria heard the sliding sound it made. The window stayed in that place, thankfully. It had fallen back down, it would've made a loud crashing sound and alerted the zombies.

Stinky turned around to look at Daria, who asked him, "What do we do now? Just leave without your parents…?"

"No," Stinky said. "I'll never leave my parents, not when they have a chance at living still," he added with that same determination in his voice.

"What about your Aunt Lilly?" Daria gasped.

Stinky began to cry. This decision was too much for him, even if he made it. But he managed to let it out orally. "We'll have to leave Lilly here…" he said slowly, in an almost grieving tone. "…too die alone…she'll prove to be too much of a danger because she is infected…and we'll have to eventually leave her behind anyway…when she…dies…" He almost began bawling his eyes out over the thought of leaving his Aunt Lilly to die alone and become a zombie with no one to keep her company in her final hours of life.

But he stopped when Daria repaid the favor by hugging him strongly, just as he had done for her when she had been losing her cool.

When Daria released Stinky from her hug a few minutes later, she asked him, "How will we help your parents? Get the zombies out of the downstairs without drawing them up here, I mean."

"We'll start throwing things out the window, Daria," Stinky instructed. "We must make enough loud noise outside of the cabin to draw those zombies out of the downstairs and to the clearing down there." Daria knew what he was talking about—the ground outside of the cabin. And she also realized that they wouldn't escape out that window, as the zombies would be drawn to there, but they would quickly head downstairs, and rescue Stinky's parents, then escape out the door that the zombies had broken down only minutes ago.

There was a sudden and loud crashing sound, but it wasn't because of what Daria and Stinky were doing, throwing all these objects out the window. It was from the downstairs. And they both froze right after throwing some box that had clearly had glass in it, based on the shattering sound, when they heard screaming.

"SHIT!" Stinky screamed.

* * *

"Get out, Kate!" Humphrey screamed. "Get out!"

There was a lone zombie that had busted the door down, unexpectedly, after all of the others had been drawn away by the loud noise Daria and Stinky had caused. They had intended to leave the room, having not heard the lone zombie's moan until managing to open the door. But it had been too late then and it had noticed the three living wolves exiting the room.

"No, Humphrey!" Kate screamed.

"Go!" Humphrey ordered. "Just get out of here!" Then he attacked the zombie when it entered the room but things quickly didn't go as he had planned. His risky yet noble decision quickly led to his decision as the zombie wolf managed to turn him over then sank its teeth into Humphrey's throat and ripped it open. It left a massive and bleeding gash his throat, killing him almost immediately.

"HUMPHREY!" Kate screamed then went into a rant. "You fucker! I'll hunt down and kill every one of you fuckers! Damn you all to hell! Damn all of you! I hope you all burn in!" Lilly tried to stop her but that didn't go over well. "Get off me, Lilly! Damn it!"

"He's gone!" Lilly began pleading. "Now come on! He gave his life for you—now you must get out of here before more of them show up again. He wouldn't want you to die after he sacrificed himself to save you!"

Kate, albeit through severe reluctance, agreed to leave now but she didn't without caving in the skull of the zombie wolf with the first heavy object she had gotten her paws on, spilling its brains out. But, by the time she had done that, Humphrey's intestines had already been ripped out.

"Motherfucker," Kate growled, through tears, and then spit on this damn thing's corpse.

Crying loudly, Kate and Lilly both ran out of the cabin through the opening where the door had been before the zombies had broken it down. They ran, despite Lilly's wounds, because of their fear and their grief, until they found a large bush. They quickly disappeared into it, learning that there was more than enough room in it for them both. They could hide from the view of the zombies, but a bush did nothing to hide their scents from the zombies—they couldn't afford to stay here for long. But where else could they go to be safe from the zombies?

Kate couldn't get over Humphrey's death as she attempted to keep Lilly calm. Her little sister was crying her eyes out over the deaths of Humphrey and everyone else. Neither of them would either forgot ever forget that scream he had let out when that zombie had ripped his throat it. It had been horrible, blood curdling, spine chilling, and even hellish. It had been so loud that it had hurt both of the sisters' ears and the two wolves upstairs, Daria and Stinky, probably heard it with clarity. Never had either of the sisters heard such a horrible and piercing scream in their lives and they hoped that they would never hear such a scream again. If they even lived long enough to get out of the area or find another safe haven!

"Please stay calm, Lilly!" Kate pleaded. "S-Stay…oh, fuck that! Humphrey is dead, I'll lose you in less than a day's time, and Stinky and Daria probably don't even know what happened. Oh, Humphrey," Kate sobbed. "Not my love…I've lost everyone else but you, Stinky, and Daria," she said to Lilly. "Why did the zombies have to take Humphrey from me?! Oh, my…husband is dead! Not my dear Humphrey! What will I do without him?! We've been together and we've never separated for as long as we've been married until now! WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?!" Kate wailed at the top of her lungs before losing all control over herself. "NOT HUMPHREY! NOT MY HUSBAND!"

"Kate!" Lilly screamed suddenly. "Behind you!"

It all happened so fast. There was an unexpected moan as a single zombie wolf appeared seemingly out of nowhere so suddenly that neither sister had a chance to react before it pinned Kate to the ground after rushing into the bush, despite how the zombies could only move at a shambling pace. Lilly screamed again and failed to save her sister before it happened.

The zombie wolf chomped its jaws down on Kate's neck, burying its teeth deep into the soft flesh. Blood sprayed out around the teeth more and more as they went deeper into her flesh. Kate screamed agonizingly and made a sickening gurgling sound as blood gushed from the gashes in her throat and as she coughed blood up. Then there was a loud ripping sound as the undead wolf, Lois (Daria's younger sister), tore Kate's throat out with a powerful yank.

Lilly had frozen like ice because of the stock of having to watch her older sister die so brutally. But when an undead Lois began tearing into Kate's chest, breaking through the exposed ribcage as if it was nothing more than glass, and then ripping out Kate's heart and lungs in one yank. She had died when her ribcage broke open, not when her throat was ripped out.

Lilly couldn't take it anymore and ran off screaming, with a contorted look of sadness and horror on her face. She had no idea where to go, even if she would become a zombie in less than a day, and just kept on running as an undead Lois consumed her sister within the bush. She could hear Daria and Stinky screaming, inside the cabin, about Humphrey as she ran, as best as a two-footed wolf could, further and further away from the cabin.

Lilly assumed that she was far away from any zombie wolf but still had no idea where she could go now. But what difference would it make if Lilly lived the next twenty-some hours or if she died now? Lilly would die either way because of how she had been severely wounded on her hind legs by a zombie.

Gasping heavily for breaths, Lilly came across a large hollow log, several minutes later. She was not exhausted because of the running itself but because of several with only two good legs. Her back legs were next to useless. So Lilly crawled, butt first, into the log, seeing no other option now, and hoping that she would be safe from the zombies here until she died then reanimated. Not that staying alive mattered that much anymore. She backed up into the log until she felt her butt collide with the back of the log. She was basically cornered. It wouldn't be so bad if she had stayed all alone here but that changed when she heard a familiar moan.

Lilly knew it was the zombie wolves, not the wind blowing, and obviously, they knew she was hiding inside of the hollow log. Before Lilly knew heard, she heard an intense growl then screamed when a severely rotted wolf tried to get into the log, face first. Moaning loudly and almost snarling, it snapped its jaws at Lilly as it slowly forced itself deeper into the log. Lilly had nowhere to go now and she regretted choosing to hide in this log, even if she would die no matter what happened to her now. There would be no help—Daria and Stinky had probably run away from the area, having heard her and Kate's screaming after they found Humphrey dead.

Lilly tried backing up further when she felt the zombie wolf breathing on her face. Its breath smelled like death. Suddenly, there was a loud crashing sound as a hole suddenly broke open in the log. It was the mutilated front leg of a wolf, which scraped across Lilly's face, almost blinding her due to the claws running across her eyeballs.

And, when the other zombie suddenly collided face-to-face with Lilly, she screamed at the top of her longs. Then everything went back for Lilly as her screams echoed through the forest, only to fade away seconds later.


	28. Princess Gives Up

**Chapter 27:**

**Princess Gives Up**

Princess had survived long enough to get to Rabbit Poo Mountain unharmed, physically at least, in some cases. Other than the fact that she was starving due to never having a chance to eat because of endless encounters with the zombies ever since Garth had given his life for her. Her stomach was in knots because of how little food she had consumed since that day in the field. She had also been alone ever since then, having not even seen a single living wolf since Garth had sacrificed himself. The only reason she wasn't wet after a sudden rainstorm that had just ended was because of a poncho she had found in a rundown tool shed. She had spent last night there and had taken the poncho with her, having used it as a blanket that night.

Princess' morale as absolute shit. Between Garth's death, being all alone since then, being starved, and being next to dehydrated, she had lost all hope in only days. All of the zombie wolves she had seen, almost constantly, since Garth had sacrificed himself didn't help raise her morale any. Not at all! It made her morale worse. And, just because Princess hadn't seen a single living wolf in days, she was beginning to accept she could be the only living wolf in all of Jasper Park.

All of the Southern Wolves who had once made up the pack at Rabbit Poo Mountain were dead or undead. Their remains that were all over the territory told her that. Not a single survivor here other than her.

"Or in all of Jasper," Princess muttered to herself, as there was no one else here to talk to. Princess was so sick that she could hardly stand up and walk anymore all because she hadn't had a chance to eat and barely any chances to drink water in days. She was so skinny that the outlines of her ribcage, spinal column, and hips were showing through her flesh. Princess' fur was beginning to fall out because of her malnutrition. She looked like a wolf with mange, which may just be the case. Mange could sometimes result from malnutrition and dehydration because of the lack of nutrients Princess had been getting. She was so skinny, with patches of her exposed throw where her fur had been, and with the outlines of her skeleton visible. The fur on Princess' tail had fallen off so much that it was beginning to look like a massive rat tail. Her tail was almost naked of all fur.

The incessant moaning of all the zombie wolves that were all over Rabbit Poo Mountain, which were all probably aware of Princess' position and closing on the sickly wolf slowly. So slowly. Princess was physically exhausted as she rested up against a tree, with her hind legs and naked tail stretched out in front of her.

"I give up," Princess whispered to herself. "I give up…no…reason…to go on…"

Princess already knew of the tree's presence, but she was just noticing a vine lying not far away from her body. Seeing that and then the strong tree branch just over her head gave the almost depressed wolf an idea, a dark idea, to put that vine to good use. Good use in her mind, anyway.

Groaning agonizingly, Princess got up and snatched the vine up in her jaws. She had enough strength left in her body, which was shutting down at this point due to lack of nourishment, to do this carry out this one last act. Runt, her younger and (unbeknownst to her) deceased mate, had taught Princess how to climb trees when he had been an adolescent. And she had begun climbing up this medium-sized tree—an agonizing act for a wolf whose body was shutting down—after managing to tie the vine into the shape of what humans called a "noose." She then tied one end of the vine around t

The tree branch tightly, so it wouldn't come loose. Princess stuck her head through the other loop, which was only large enough to fit her head through. A gentle tug tightened the loop around her neck.

"Fuck the world," Princess whispered what would become her last words then she let go of the tree. She fell to the left, swung around in an almost circular motion briefly, and came to a stop about a minute later. The vine didn't snap, tear, or loosen at all.

Princess couldn't speak and began choking as the vine started tightening around her throat due to her weight. She felt as if she was being asphyxiated by the vine, which she probably was, given how it was around her neck. But she didn't connect those two facts as she could barely thing due to how weakened her body was due to lack of nourishment. With every movement, in intentional or unintentional ones, the vine tightened more and more around the she-wolf's neck.

She was gagging, choking, and coughing loudly as a few zombie wolves, all members of the pack that had once lived here, began shambling toward her. Princess was an easy meal for the zombies, not that she cared because she would be dead by the time they reached her. That was due to how slowly they moved.

Princess made a strange gurgling sound, let out a noise best described as a croak, and her tongue involuntarily slipped out of her mouth. All as the vine kept on tightening around her neck to the point it was beginning to cut her flesh and tear into her jugular vein, something that would have been fatal if it wasn't for her suffocating to death first. She could no longer breathe due to how tight the vine was—it kept on getting tighter regardless. She was still gasping, but barely. It was so faint that the dying she-wolf doubted that even the approaching zombie wolves could hear it, as unlikely as that seemed.

Princess' vision was cloudy. She couldn't inhale or exhale anymore. And she kept going in-and-out of consciousness, with her eyeballs blinking open and closed as rapidly as she went in-and-out of consciousness. The way the zombies' movements looked to Princess, due to her eyes' actions, was as if they were playing through a malfunctioning camera—darkness, a sight of the zombies moving toward her, darkness…her vision kept going through a cycle of them. Not that Princess knew what a camera was.

Princess gasped one last time then she finally felt her life leave her, something she had wanted to happen not because she had been suicidal for a long time but only because she had wanted out of this hellish world and had refused to become one of those zombies. But she didn't realize that she could only do that if she destroyed her brain, which she hadn't. It was only damaged due to lack of oxygen. Princess made one last gurgling sound, her eyes went closed and stayed that way, and lastly, her tongue was still hanging out of her askew jaw.

But, even though she was gone, the zombies didn't stop approaching Princess. And the result would be best described as gruesome because the vine couldn't hold her anymore, and finally snapped under her weight just as the small group of undead reached her…

**The End**

* * *

**Author's note:** I know, crappy ending to a great story. But I gave it a horrible ending for one reason: this and _Desert of the Dead_ may be the end of my zombie stories. I've done four of them and I don't really have any good ideas to continue the series after this and the remake. So the fact that it says "The End" may apply to the entire series and not just this one story.


End file.
